How engineering and an optimal quality manufacturing video-over-fiber cable solved compatibility issues between a proprietary military training app and the Oculus™ virtual reality headset
Military tech projects have challenging sales cycles with stringent application requirements. Our client struggled to find a video extender with expert tech support to ensure compatibility between their virtual reality military training simulator and a variety of supplied headset.
Customer Profile
Our client is one the world’s oldest and most respected aerospace manufacturers. Today, the company offers a broad portfolio of products and services in business aviation and technology and military technology including combat vehicles, weapon systems, intelligence and submarines for clients like the US Department of Defense. Vitex has a long-standing relationship with this client providing optical transceivers and cables.
The Challenges
A division we had not worked with previously reached out to us with a time-sensitive communication problem. They urgently needed a video-over-fiber (VOF) extender for a virtual reality (VR) headset used as part of simulated military training demo. They had just learned that their current video extender was not compatible with the provided Oculus™ VR headsets.
HIGHLIGHTS
Industry
Military
OEM
Challenges
Product Integration
Product Quality
Product Engineering
Solutions
Product Expertise
US-based Tech Support
Products
The Solution
On the same day we received their request, the Vitex engineers (1) identified the type of VOF cable they needed, (2) defined its technical specifications including resolution requirements and (3) overnighted a sample LightBolt DisplayPort™ video extender for compatibility testing.
When they plugged the sample cable into the Oculus headset, DisplayPort video extender worked as predicted with enough time to successfully demonstrate their military training simulation. As the proven project rolled out, the division ordered video extenders for this particular virtual reality project and others.
Another Challenge
Our client’s training application required it to work with many brands of supplied vendor headsets. Naturally, the occasional vendor and technology incompatibilities popped up. DisplayPort issues due to different monitor resolutions or cables are common due to an electronic EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) handshaking error. This is because some electronics manufacturers do not strictly adhere to form factor requirements, manufacturing tolerances and engineering specifications resulting in products that are not 100% compatible with other vendors’ products. Moreover, products in the video extenders industry are not heavily regulated.
The Final Solution
Vitex has extensive experience in both fiber optics and optical engineering that is invaluable in problem resolution. In this specific case, the Vitex DisplayPort video extender needed to work with the technology of many other vendors to be successful. A quick review of the incompatibilities by our engineers resulted in a firmware update that immediately solved the issue.
The Outcomes
Our military industry client was able to use LightBolt video extender AOC for the virtual reality headset demonstration they urgently needed it for to win a big sale. As the project was implemented, Vitex worked with them with samples, tech support and testing to test and validate compatibility with additional technologies. From a technology perspective, the virtual reality-based simulated military training was a significant achievement. As Craig Polk, Vitex Product Manager noted, “We specialize in building long-term relationships to create a business and technology partnership, not just sell products.”
For simple or complex projects that depend on consistent data flow to a visualization system or monitor, talk to Vitex about our superior video-over-fiber products. Browse our online catalog or contact us.
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