The following page depicts some of the initial design concepts and functional testing of elements based on the level 1.1 AtoN Manager curriculum.
Initial area chosen to simulate was the Port of Cape Town, South Africa, only because certain physical information could be easily verified or surveyed due to its location being close to the developers. This is of course immaterial in a fictious virtual world only used for the purpose of AtoN training.
Concept testing of leading light design considerations, such as cross track factor, vertical and horizontal divergence and glare etc. The ability to design elements below the waterline was also conceptually tested.
Initial build testing water realism, ambient lighting and other natural effects, as well as port specific dimensions
Integration testing proposed with Unreal engine Cesium Plugin which would enable any port to be simulated for AtoN system design as a future enhancement to the AtoN training simulator
Key concept testing is the development of underwater simulation not currently available in open source geodata. This would enable teaching and simulating mooring design considerations and under keel clearance. As a teaching aid this concept could be taught in a fictious port environment but if developed to be used as an AtoN system design and deployment testing tool each port's bathymetry could be developed separately by the user. Above waterline design elements would not require this. A specific simulator design consideration was the use of only open source software to allow each port to make their own design enhancements including specific AtoN functionality.
Initial concept testing of buoys both above and below the waterline.
Conceptualized user interface for customization of asset parameters such as light characteristics, luminous intensity and synchronization etc.
Simplified user interface (UI) using buttons and sliders to configure location, lighting and other levels of customization. Below is parallel testing and configuring of real world physics to enable moving of assets after being generated. Ideally they can be auto-positioned using physical co-ordinates and then minor positional adjustments made as part of simulation/design testing.
