Specular Theory's Experiential AAR Lightweight Simulator (EARL™) to Debut at the ARSAG Annual Event April 26-28, 2022 in San Diego

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Apr 05, 2022, 08:46 ET

VENICE BEACH, Calif., April 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Specular Theory is a leading-edge VR/MR/Ai technology company actively engaging with the Air Force and AFLCMC Simulators Innovation division in the deployment of XR next-generation training solutions.

Since founding the company in 2013, Specular Theory has won more awards across categories than any other company in the XR space including the Walmart V-commerce Competition, Best XR game at CES and Top 10 Finalist in Richard Branson's Extreme Tech Challenge. For the past four years, Specular Theory has been leveraging its commercial technology for the Air Force, developing immersive training tools that extend and enhance the availability of training for aircrews for the C-17, KC-135, B-52 and KC-46.

In 2019, the company won an SBIR Direct to Phase II contract to develop VR training tools for teaching KC-135 and C-17 pilots and boom operators how to do air refueling. In less than 12 months, they successfully delivered over 45 VR lessons, a VR flight sim and interactive boom pod trainer. These products have been so effective, it's led the company to win nine (9) Phase III contracts over the past 18 months to fund expansion of feature sets, including adding new airframes.

As part of the Air Force's effort to build out a new realm of training devices and a "lightweight simulator" ecosystem, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) Simulators Innovation office has identified Specular Theory's technology as a promising capability to fill a major training gap for the Air Force. This gap has now become an opportunity zone for the Air Force made up of immersive technology and part task trainers that are consumer-grade, high fidelity, and low-footprint. These immersive tools allow users to engage many of their senses in training activities but at a much lower cost than that of a weapons system trainer (WST).

Unlike other VR trainers, Specular Theory's EARL (™) lightweight sim runs on commercial-grade COTS and uses a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) plug-in, and Force Feedback controls to provide high fidelity, accurate training. With Ai Instruction, Adaptive Learning, and Multiplayer functionality, EARL is a simulator with a built-in instructor that enables individual, team, and multi-aircraft training all on one system.

EARL recently won the U.S. Air Force Simulators Innovation Match Game in the Virtual Part Task Trainer category at the 2021 Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) in Orlando.

"There's a lot of interest in the Air Force right now to see how accurately we can replicate the feel of the aircraft in a lightweight high fidelity simulator. We have received a lot of interest in adding more aircraft to EARL, which has the power to inform future generations of training and represents the future of AF training and collaboration," says Morris May, Founder/CEO of Specular Theory.

Part of this collaboration involves how the Air Force is working to support innovation and small businesses. "We are amazed at how Specular Theory has been able to consistently produce quality work and attract the attention of Air Force customers. We are looking forward to the future with this company, and the many opportunities it will present them," Says Dylan Greco, AFLCMC/WNS Innovation Deputy PM.

In addition to creating the software for a complete Air to Air refueling experience, Specular Theory also provides technical specifications for third parties to integrate their solutions. For example, STRIKEWERX, which is the innovation arm of Air Force Global Strike Command, launched a Challenge event seeking industry solutions for providing the B-52 hardware to be used with Specular Theory's EARL simulator.

"Air refueling is one of the most essential, but difficult, tasks for B-52 pilots to accomplish, meaning it requires significant training. Specular Theory's software creation and integration guidance for our Air Refueling Trainer Challenge hardware will create a realistic simulator that will serve to revolutionize this type of training. Their efforts will create more proficient pilots, more quickly," said Russ Mathers, STRIKEWERX director.

Future expansion of EARL includes the ability to load additional aircraft and create any type of training scenario, bringing many compounding benefits beyond just aerial refueling.

Specular Theory will be exhibiting at The ARSAG 2022 Annual Meeting April 26-28 in San Diego (www.arsaginc.com) where they will be showing EARL publicly for the first time. For more information or to schedule a demo during the show, please contact:

Ryan Pulliam
415-816-4983
[email protected]
www.speculartheory.com

SOURCE Specular Theory