MAK Technologies, Inc.

Last updated
MAK Technologies
Type Wholly owned subsidiary
Industry Modeling & Simulation
Headquarters
Cambridge, Massachusetts
,
United States
Parent ST Engineering North America
Website www.mak.com

MAK Technologies, formerly doing business as VT MAK, Inc. is a software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that provides commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) modeling and simulation software. The company develops and sells software for distributed simulations that system integrators, governments, and research institutions use to build and populate 3D simulated environments. Users include medical, aerospace, defense, and transportation industries. In addition to offering COTS software, MAK provides the following services: simulation content creation, software customization, interoperability, research and development, and training.

Contents

History

MAK Technologies was founded in 1990. In 2006 the company was acquired by Vision Technologies Systems, Inc. (VT Systems). In 2009 MAK began doing business as (d.b.a.) VT MAK to reflect the branding of the parent company. In 2019 the parent company was renamed ST Engineering North America. In 2020 MAK dropped the d.b.a. VT MAK and returned to doing business as MAK Technologies, a company of ST Engineering North America. MAK has contributed significantly to SISO interoperability standards including the High-Level Architecture (HLA) RPRFOM [1] and the Web Live Virtual Constructive (WebLVC) simulation initiative. [2] [3]

In 2013, MAK acquired DI-Guy. Formerly a business segment of Boston Dynamics, DI-Guy develops software tools for real-time human visualization, simulation and artificial intelligence. [4]

Technology

MAK Technologies develops COTS software for distributed simulation. [5] MAK works with customers to build and populate 3D simulated environments where modeling and simulation is needed to train, plan, analyze, experiment, prototype, and demonstrate. MAK uses open standards as a base for its product line, which is natively compliant with both High Level Architecture (HLA) and Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) IEEE standards. The company has also drafted and submitted the WebLVC protocol for review to the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO), in an effort to bring live, virtual, and constructive simulation to web browsers. [6]

MAK Technologies holds several United States software patents including: A computer-implemented method for use in a distributed interactive simulation (DIS) type network protocol for simulating sustained contact of first and second computer-implemented objects on each other in a virtual environment, as well as two patents for high speed eye tracking device and method.

Customers

MAK Technologies’s software is used by governments, system integrators, and research institutions such as Boeing, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Meggitt Training Systems, Rheinmetall Canada, [7] Thales, RUAG, University of Iowa, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, SAIC, the United States Air Force, [8] the Pakistan Air Force, [9] [10] the Naval Air Warfare Center, The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa, George Mason University, NASA Langley, [11] Czech Air Defense Technical Institute, the Federal Aviation Administration, [12] DRDC Toronto, Bell Helicopter, ITT, Embraer, Selex Galileo, and EADS.

Products

MAK's product line includes interoperability tools to help link distributed simulations together; Simulation tools to model vehicles, people and interactions within virtual worlds; Visualization tools which visualize the simulations playing out in those virtual worlds. With the inclusion of DI-Guy in 2013, MAK now has a full line of Human Character Simulation tools. [13]

Product Categories

Standards

Simulation industry standards and formats contributed to, and used by, MAK Technologies include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simulation</span> Imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time

A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the simulation represents the evolution of the model over time. Often, computers are used to execute the simulation.

Message-oriented middleware (MOM) is software or hardware infrastructure supporting sending and receiving messages between distributed systems. MOM allows application modules to be distributed over heterogeneous platforms and reduces the complexity of developing applications that span multiple operating systems and network protocols. The middleware creates a distributed communications layer that insulates the application developer from the details of the various operating systems and network interfaces. APIs that extend across diverse platforms and networks are typically provided by MOM.

The High Level Architecture (HLA) is a standard for distributed simulation, used when building a simulation for a larger purpose by combining (federating) several simulations. The standard was developed in the 1990s under the leadership of the US Department of Defense and was later transitioned to become an open international IEEE standard. It is a recommended standard within NATO through STANAG 4603. Today the HLA is used in a number of domains including defense and security and civilian applications.

Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) is an IEEE standard for conducting real-time platform-level wargaming across multiple host computers and is used worldwide, especially by military organizations but also by other agencies such as those involved in space exploration and medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common Image Generator Interface</span>

The Common Image Generator Interface (CIGI), is an on-the-wire data protocol that allows communication between an Image Generator and its host simulation. The interface is designed to promote a standard way for a host device to communicate with an image generator (IG) within the industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation</span> Military unit

The United States Air Force established the Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation (AFAMS) in June 1996 at Orlando, Florida. AFAMS mission is to enhance and leverage Modeling & Simulation to support and facilitate integrated, realistic and efficient operational training across warfighting domains to enable full-spectrum readiness. AFAMS vision is advance readiness through Live, Virtual and Constructive (LVC) training.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delta3D</span>

Delta3d is an open source software gaming/simulation engine API. Delta3d is managed and supported by Caper Holdings LLC. Previously the Modeling, Virtual Environments, and Simulation (MOVES) Institute at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California managed and supported delta3d. Alion Science has also been a major contributor to enhancements and features.

Web-based simulation (WBS) is the invocation of computer simulation services over the World Wide Web, specifically through a web browser. Increasingly, the web is being looked upon as an environment for providing modeling and simulation applications, and as such, is an emerging area of investigation within the simulation community.

A dynamic terrain is the representation of terrain together with the capability for modification during a simulation.

The Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO) is an organization dedicated to the promotion of modeling and simulation interoperability and reuse for the benefit of diverse modeling and simulation communities, including developers, procurers, and users, worldwide.

Live, Virtual, & Constructive (LVC) Simulation is a broadly used taxonomy for classifying Modeling and Simulation (M&S). However, categorizing a simulation as a live, virtual, or constructive environment is problematic since there is no clear division among these categories. The degree of human participation in a simulation is infinitely variable, as is the degree of equipment realism. The categorization of simulations also lacks a category for simulated people working real equipment.

Mounted Warfare TestBed (MWTB) at Fort Knox, Kentucky, was the premier site for distributed simulation experiments in the US Army for over 20 years. It used simulation systems, including fully manned virtual simulators and computer-generated forces, to perform experiments that examined current and future weapon systems, concepts, and tactics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GIMIAS</span>

GIMIAS is a workflow-oriented environment focused on biomedical image computing and simulation. The open-source framework is extensible through plug-ins and is focused on building research and clinical software prototypes. Gimias has been used to develop clinical prototypes in the fields of cardiac imaging and simulation, angiography imaging and simulation, and neurology

In software engineering, service virtualization or service virtualisation is a method to emulate the behavior of specific components in heterogeneous component-based applications such as API-driven applications, cloud-based applications and service-oriented architectures. It is used to provide software development and QA/testing teams access to dependent system components that are needed to exercise an application under test (AUT), but are unavailable or difficult-to-access for development and testing purposes. With the behavior of the dependent components "virtualized", testing and development can proceed without accessing the actual live components. Service virtualization is recognized by vendors, industry analysts, and industry publications as being different than mocking. See here for a Comparison of API simulation tools.

The virtual world framework (VWF) is a means to connect robust 3D, immersive, entities with other entities, virtual worlds, content and users via web browsers. It provides the ability for client-server programs to be delivered in a lightweight manner via web browsers, and provides synchronization for multiple users to interact with common objects and environments. For example, using VWF, a developer can take video lesson plans, component objects and avatars and successfully insert them into an existing virtual or created landscape, interacting with the native objects and users via a VWF interface.

The Standard Interface for Multiple Platform Link Evaluation (SIMPLE) is a military communications protocol defined in NATO's Standardization Agreement STANAG 5602.

Distributed Simulation Engineering and Execution Process (DSEEP) is a standardized process for building federations of computer simulations. DSEEP is maintained by SISO and the standard is published as IEEE Std 1730-2010. DSEEP is a recommended systems engineering process in the NATO Modelling and Simulation Standards Profile AMSP-01, which also uses DSEEP as a framework for describing when other standards are to be used throughout a project process.

The Real-time Platform Reference Federation Object Model enables linking computer simulations of discrete physical entities into complex virtual worlds. It is a High Level Architecture (HLA) federation object model developed for distributed simulation applications of defense and security. RPR FOM is listed in the NATO Modelling and Simulation Standards Profile AMSP-01.

Gregory Zacharewicz is Full Professor at École des mines d'Alès in Alès, France. He recently joined the LGI2P laboratory in 2018 to develop research based on simulation. He was previously Associate Professor at the University of Bordeaux (2007-2018), where he conducted research on modeling, interoperability and simulation of business and social organization. He worked with Bruno Vallespir and Guy Doumeingts and under the direction of Claudia Frydman and Norbert Giambiasi.

References

  1. ↑ "RPR FOM Interim Meeting". Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization, July 12, 2013.
  2. ↑ "WebLVC Linking Web-based Applications with Traditional M&S Federations". Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization, February 24, 2014.
  3. ↑ "WebLVC Final Report". Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization, February 11, 2014.
  4. ↑ "DI-Guy is Now Part of VT MAK". Military Simulation and Training Magazine, December 11, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Interactive Networked Battlefield Simulation Training Technologies" (PDF). Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  6. ↑ "WEB LIVE, VIRTUAL, CONSTRUCTIVE (WEBLVC) Study Group" . Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "Rheinmetall Canada Chooses VT MAK'S Simulation and Visualization Components". Aerospace and Defense News. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  8. ↑ "QuickStrike: An Air Force Operations Staff Trainer" (PDF). Air Force SBIR/STTR, September 11, 2009. 19 June 2020.
  9. ↑ "Pakistan Air Force Selects MAK ONE Software for Composite Simulation Centre's Synthetic Battlefield Environment". Global Defense Insight . 23 October 2022.
  10. ↑ "MAK ONE For Pakistan Air Force". Pakistan Strategic. 25 October 2022.
  11. ↑ "VT MÄK Expanding Applications to Civil Aviation". Inside S&T - Airline, August 10, 2011.
  12. ↑ "VT MÄK Expanding Applications to Civil Aviation". Halldale Group. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  13. ↑ "MAK demonstrates HLA Evolved, DDS Interoperability..." 12 News. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  14. ↑ Vats, Garima; Singh, Avantika; Chandra, Nidhi (2013). "Distributed Interactive Simulation and Its Application in Multi Sensor Tracking" (PDF). International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering. 3 (4): 274–279. ISSN   2277-128X.
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