24 May Meet Deigratia Daniels, Project Manager
We recently welcomed Deigratia Daniels to the Futurus team as a Project Manager. I sat down with him to learn more about his background in VR/AR and training simulations.
Take us back to the beginning, when you first started working in the immersive tech industry.
My professional career started in 1999 when I became a student at the University of Central Florida (UCF). The program was still new at the time, but I was enrolled as a grad student in Interactive Simulation and Training Systems Design, which was a specialization in the Engineering department at UCF. At the very onset of my career in XR as a graduate assistant, I was responsible for teaching 3D modeling techniques using MultiGen Creator, Vega Prime, and MAK Technologies to generate Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS)/High-Level Architecture (HLA) real-time environments. 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. HLA is the successor to DIS and the interaction between simulations is managed by a run-time infrastructure (RTI) as opposed to an open broadcast on a DIS based network. My early interests in XR were graphics and display technologies and I am still passionate about them 20 years later.
As soon as I graduated from the program in 2001, I was immediately hired by Lockheed Martin as a Systems Engineer to design and develop training devices using virtual/augmented reality. From 2001 – 2016 I worked on some of the most amazing training devices, VR products, and solution centers. I was able to see and explore items that I would have never had the chance to experience outside of the Department of Defense. I was able to work on many armored vehicles’ VR products such as the M1 Abrams and its many enhancement packages, as well as various Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs) as part of the Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT), United Kingdom Close Combat Tactical Trainer (UKCATT), and Advanced Gunnery Training System (AGTS) programs.
15 years ago I was pioneering techniques to integrate advance artificial intelligence and autonomous human characters into simulation training products using tools such as DI Guy. DI Guy provides an easy and rapid method for creating realistic human characters for extraordinary visual simulation. The models are super-realistic, fully-rigged, and easy to control (relative to the early 2000s). Today, autonomous human characters are commonplace in simulations and video games and utilize motion capture (mocap) for animation and behaviors. I was also part of the initial team that helped developed the Scalable Advanced Graphics Engine (SAGE) prototype. SAGE is a hybrid gaming visual solution that provides richly detailed images and motion. We pioneered advanced techniques for real-time shadows, dynamic/destructible environments, various sensor models (IR & Radar) and visualizations, and rapid 3D Content integration.
I work side-by-side with the Marines to develop training devices and training techniques that helped save the lives our men and women that served and defended. I’ve had Captains and Commanders commend me on my knowledge of system operations and standard operating procedures for the armored vehicles they are deployed with and command.
From 2009 – 2016 as Systems Engineer & Project Manager at Lockheed, I managed the development and the deployment of C130-J training devices for the Air Force Special Operations Forces (AFSOC), Air Mobility Command (AMC), and USMC (United States Marine Corps). Working on the C130-J Maintenance and Aircrew Training System (C130J-MATS) gave me the exposure and experience to become an expert in aircraft design and avionics systems. I worked closely with F35, F22, C5, P3, and C130J airframes.
Throughout my career, my specialty has been systems integration, systems testing/validation, and display technologies. I am Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the design, development, deployment, and maintenance of training systems & training centers. Currently, I’m a Project Manager at Futurus where I’m able to continue to use XR tools and techniques to develop rich and immersive training devices.
