Patent ID: 6735557
Filing Date: 2004-05-11
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
A method for providing real-time sensor simulation of a terrain, the terrain stored in a database of texture elements (texels), each texel associated with a material having an material identification (MID) and an associated normal, a plurality of the texels illuminated by at least one energy source in a sky, the method comprising:for each MID, predetermining a sensor-modulated reflectance value for the identified material and the simulated sensor; predetermining a first amount of radiant power originating from each of a plurality of energy sources located in a plurality of regions in the sky at a first time; receiving a texel; determining a region in the sky associated with the normal of the received texel; obtaining the amount of radiant power originating from the determined region; obtaining the predetermined sensor-modulated reflectance value of the MID associated with the received texel; and providing a first output as a function of the obtained radiant power and the obtained sensor-modulated reflectance value.