NPSNET: Hierarchical data structures for real-time three-dimensional visual simulation

Abstract

3D visual simulation systems must present a world, including terrain, cultural features, and 3D icons, in real-time at a level of detail that supports the use for which the system is intended. A “simple” world lends itself to blasting all the polygons through the workstation's existing graphics pipeline. However, a “simple” world is not very realistic and/or does not operate in real-time. For complex worlds, such as that modeled in NPSNET, providing high fidelity in real-time requires the use of hierarchical data structures. We explore the implementation of such a structure on the world modeled by NPSNET utilizing quadtrees.