Calytrix Technologies

Calytrix Newsletter: May 2013

“A noise annoys an oyster, but a noisy noise annoys an oyster more." ~ R.P. Weston and Bert Lee

In CNR-Sim's new version, white noise has been made more realistic sounding, thus annoying simulated radio users even more.

In this issue of our Newsletter, we highlight recent updates to our Comm Net Radio (CNR) and LVC Game software.

In this edition:

Recent News
Tech Note
Upcoming Events

LVC Game & Unity Game Engine

Calytrix has integrated LVC Game with Unity's 3D game engine in a 3D game application where LVC Game provides bidirectional DIS/HLA interoperability to the Unity application. Calytrix has posted a new demonstration video, showing correlated views of this new Unity app with a constructive simulation (JSAF) and VBS2, on Calytrix's YouTube Channel. Calytrix's work will lead to an upcoming release of LVC Game for Unity. Contact Calytrix for more details.

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CNR 5.1 Released

Calytrix has released new Comm Net Radio (CNR) software, version 5.1, with substantial updates to CNR-Sim, CNR-Log, and CNR-Effects.

Some major new features are described below in this newsletter. Other new features include:

Superimpose sound effects over transmissions
Add sounds at the beginning and end of transmissions to mimic squelch and crypto tones
Radio names recorded in CNR logs (only radio IDs were recorded before)
Improved application programmer's interface (API) with more configuration and management options
Use on Windows and Linux (Ubuntu LTS and Red Hat Enterprise Linux)

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Demonstration: New CNR-Skins Video

A short video demo of CNR-Skins can be viewed on the Calytrix Technologies YouTube Channel. The video is less than 4 minutes long, and demonstrates three different radio "skins" in operation.

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Demonstration: New CNR-Effects Video

Calytrix has created a new demo video of CNR-Effects in use with VBS2. The video demonstrates how vehicle-mounted radios gradually lose radio contact as one vehicle drives away from the other through the VBS2 terrain. This and other videos are ready for viewing at the Calytrix Technologies YouTube Channel.

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Blue Sprocket Engine and PixelTransit Integrated with LVC Game

Blue Newt Software’s Blue Sprocket Engine is a fully modern rendering and simulation pipeline for serious developers. PixelTransit is a high-performance clustered image generator built on top of the Blue Sprocket Engine.

With LVC Game, Blue Sprocket Engine and PixelTransit users can now participate in small to very large scale, DIS/HLA-based, distributed simulations with other Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) participants.

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CVSD Codec Added To CNR-Sim

A new audio encoder/decoder (codec) has been added to CNR-Sim version 5.1, allowing CNR-Sim users to use Continuously Variable Slope Delta (CVSD) encoding for digitized audio. Because CVSD is quite error tolerant, CVSD encoding works well in noisy channels. As a result, CVSD has been commonly used in military communications equipment.

With the new codec, CNR-Sim users can experience the unique sound of CVSD-encoded voice communications, and CNR-Sim users can exchange simulated radio comms with systems using CVSD encoding, such as the US Army's Close Combat Tactical Trainers (CCTT).

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Vocal Proximity Added to CNR-Effects

A new Vocal Proximity effect, in CNR-Effects 5.1, attenuates a listener's perceived loudness of a speaker's voice as the distance increases between speaker and listener. This effect is based on the real-world physics of audio waves moving through air and fading in strength over distance.

An example application would be a squad of soldiers on patrol in a game-based simulation, where distances vary between soldiers as they conduct their patrol.

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CNR-Sim Comms: Voice and Text ... Now Binary Data, Too

In addition to voice and text chat messages, CNR-Sim (version 5.1) can transmit a user-defined block of binary data across the DIS network to CNR-Sim receivers.

With this new capability, users can simulate digital radio transmission of blocks of data conforming to the special needs of a user's unique application. Examples could be transmission of a military "9-Line" report from one CNR-Sim radio to another, or transmission of an image through a CNR-Sim radio channel.

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CNR Provides Critical Comms for Major ADF Training Activity

CNR-Sim and CNR-Live provided critical communications support during the Australian Defence Force's Pozieres Prospect 13 exercise. "This event was the single largest, most complex, simulation enabled, C2-integrated event ever delivered in Australia," said the Director of the ADF’s Joint Combined Training Capability (JCTC).

The Amphibious Task Group used 45 computers with CNR-Sim to coordinate actions between the Joint Operations Room, the Ship-to-Objective Manoeuvre cell and the simulation interactors over a wide area network. At the same time, an Army Brigade used CNR-Sim for each battle group in the simulation center, as an alternative to using real radios.

Separately, the Brigade Air Liaison Officer, deployed in the field, used a military radio connected to CNR-Live to manage Brigade air space and deliver Time Sensitive Targeting information to the Air Force simulation interactors over 1,500 km away. This type of communication is only possible by linking real radios through CNR-Live, adding significant realism to the training event. The lead technical planner for the exercise, Mr. Greg Quilliam, stated that the CNR systems were a vital component of the exercise's success

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ITEC 2013

Calytrix will exhibit its software and hardware products at ITEC 2013 in Rome, Italy, 22-24 May. We hope to see you there.

ITEC 2013

Preserve User-Defined Entity Mappings

With each new release of an LVC Game supported product (VBS2, X-Plane, etc), new entity mappings may be installed. If you've created your own entity mappings, you certainly don't want to lose them or have to redo all of your hard work. The procedure described here will merge your unique entity mappings into a freshly installed version of an LVC Game supported product.

LVC Game scans its Incoming and Outgoing entity mapping files, line by line, starting from the beginning of the file. During this initial "start up" scanning, if LVC Game finds different mappings for identical entities, it will retain the last mapping found in the file for that entity. When such duplicates are processed, LVC Game writes an entry into the LVC Game log file, noting the duplication as an "ERROR" and recording the "before" and "after" mappings.

LVC Game uses two different files to store Incoming and Outgoing entity mappings, with filenames like these:

Incoming entity mappings: lvc_to_##.config, where "##" refers to the LVC Game supported product. Examples are lvc_to_vbs.config and lvc_to_xplane.config.
Outgoing entity mappings: ##_to_lvc.config, where "##" refers to the LVC Game supported product. Examples are vbs_to_lvc.config and xplane_to_lvc.config.

With the above information in mind, the implementation steps are simple.

Step 1. Paste your mappings at the END of the Incoming mapping file: ##_to_lvc.config. Save the file.
Step 2. Paste your mappings at the END of the Outgoing mapping file: lvc_to_##.config. Save the file.
Step 3. Start LVC Game. In VBS2, this happens when you click "New" to create a Network Mission. Assuming that duplicates were found, the LVCGame.log will contain entries like this:
- [LVCGame] 05/06/13 16:38:35 ERROR (LVCGAME::EntityTypeMapping::parseLine) '1 2 106 21 2 0 0' is already mapped to 'Helicopter', overwriting with new found value 'My_Special_Helicopter'

Before going to the last step (#4, below), it’s advisable to review these error statements to ensure that the correct mappings have taken precedence.

Step 4. Save the merged results:
- Open the LVC Web Interface by pointing your browser at http://localhost:8100/
- Force LVC Game to save the merged mappings
  - Click Apply on the Incoming mappings page.
  - Click Apply on the Outgoing mappings page.

LVC Game Mappings

You have successfully preserved your mappings by merging them into the new installation.

This tech note is an excerpt of a Knowledge Base article on Calytrix’s website.

Calytrix at a Conference or Trade Show Near You:

ITEC 2013	Rome, ITALY	22-24 May 2013
SimTecT 2013	Brisbane, AUSTRALIA	16 September 2013
I/ITSEC 2013	Orlando, Florida, USA	2-5 December 2013

Learn More: www.calytrix.com or email your inquiry to