AgustaWestland & DiSTI Corporation: Innovative iPad aircraft cockpit training emulator

The DiSTI Corporation, a leading provider of advanced graphical user interface technology, has been supporting AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, in the development of an innovative mobile application for aviation training, using the GL Studio iDevices Toolkit. Beginning with the iPad, AgustaWestland is developing a range of mobile applications to improve the flexibility and effectiveness of training media within its courses. By leveraging this next generation of hardware and software technologies, AgustaWestland is able to provide more immersive and flexible training for students, while removing physical barriers to learning. AgustaWestland is developing multimedia learning content on the iPad for a number of key customers in 2011, consisting of both controllable courseware as well as more complex emulations of aircraft systems. An initial proof of concept was developed for the Apache Tactical Situation Display (TSD), which provides a visually compelling, tactile and interactive emulation of the main mission computer for the aircraft.

John Ponsonby, Senior Vice President Training, AgustaWestland said, “We are constantly looking to improve the quality of the learning experience we provide to our customers. I am particularly excited by our latest developments in mobile learning with DiSTI tools, which provides a step change in the way our students absorb knowledge.”

DiSTI’s GL Studio iDevice toolkit was used to develop these state‐of‐the‐art iPad applications. Interactive 3D models and graphical emulations created in GL Studio can be deployed on devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

The sophisticated embedded code generation ability of GL Studio, coupled with its high fidelity visual display and secure capabilities, gives developers the ability to rapidly create content without compromise. Joe Swinski, CEO DiSTI Corporation added, “Because DiSTI and AgustaWestland share a common vision for the future of training, we are honored to provide AgustaWestland with quality tools to support their development of this highly innovative mobile training application.”

AgustaWestland and DiSTI will demonstrate their unique training
technology capabilities at ITEC 2011, where the military meets the industry to discuss key issues acing the global training community and the solutions that can meet those needs.