The SIMDIS Software Development Kit (SDK) is an open source C++ framework providing functionality to create 3D scenes consisting of objects, whose position and state change with time, that are placed relative to a geographic map. The primary modules provided by the SDK supply functionality to manage object position/state data, update object position/state data as time changes, and render 3D representations of objects within a 3D scene. Secondary modules provide utilities for parsing SIMDIS data files, performing coordinate system conversions, object state vector computations, and data metric calculations.
The intent of the SIMDIS SDK is to provide a C++ framework to be used by third party developers to incorporate functionality similar to that provided by the SIMDIS 3D Visualization and Analysis Toolkit within their own applications. The SIMDIS SDK serves as the basis for development of each new major SIMDIS release.
The SIMDIS SDK was developed by the Visualization Systems Integration branch of the Tactical Electronic Warfare Division at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. For more information visit:
The SIMDIS SDK is provided as a package containing C++ source code for use with Windows and Linux operating systems. Precompiled binaries for use with Microsoft Visual Studio have also been provided for your convenience. See the file INSTALL.md for detailed information about supported systems/compilers, third party dependencies, and installation instructions.
The SIMDIS SDK source distribution comes with a number of example programs as well as a sample data set. The example which illustrates the most common usage of the SIMDIS SDK is the Platform Symbology example. Detailed tutorials describing SIMDIS SDK use will be added at a later date.
HTML based API documentation for the SIMDIS SDK source code can be found in
the Doc subdirectory. This documentation describes the different software
components provided by the SDK.
The SIMDIS SDK provides support for loading all 3D model formats supported by OpenSceneGraph (OpenFlight, 3D Studio, Wavefront OBJ, etc), loading the SIMDIS .db Terrain and Imagery files, and streaming terrain and imagery data from the ReadyMap server product developed by Pelican Mapping using osgEarth.
The 3D models provided with the SIMDIS SDK sample data package have all been converted to the native OpenScenegraph .ive binary file format, which embeds the 3D model's geometry data and associated texture files within a single, easy to distribute file.