AVEVA Activity

Visualisation Platform
Industrial Gaming for the capital engineering industries
People learn best by doing. But when making a mistake can be catastrophic,
opportunities for learning on the job can be seriously limited. The aviation
industry overcame this through the development of sophisticated flight
simulators that have resulted in dramatic improvements in flight safety
and preparatory training for almost any scenario. Now, with AVEVA Activity
Visualisation Platform (AVEVA AVP), a similar capability is available for the
plant, marine and offshore industries.
Technologies developed for the video gaming industry now offer their users highly
realistic, immersive 3D virtual worlds in which they can engage with other players
and with objects and entities that behave in a convincingly lifelike manner. The
ability to interact with these virtual worlds in increasingly sophisticated ways has
at last made it possible to create accurate simulations of real-world environments.
AVEVA AVP comprises a powerful application development environment (AVEVA
AVP Studio) and a secure user access and run time system (AVEVA AVP Player)
that enable the creation and distribution of immersive, interactive, multi-player
training simulations of physical plants and installations directly from a 3D design
model even before the plant has been built. The scope this offers for safer and
more efficient construction, operation and maintenance of complex engineering
assets is considerable.

Business Benefits
For Engineering Contractors
z Create realistic, immersive
simulations of plant designs for bid
support and marketing
z Increase project value by optimising
design for operational safety and
efficiency
z Optimise construction methods
and scheduling using high-quality
visualisation
z Bring geographically-dispersed
teams into the virtual plant to
quickly solve technical issues
z Reduce construction errors and
rework by greater accuracy of
construction planning
z Easier remote planning and
preparation of plant walk-downs
prior to certification
For Owner Operators
During project execution
z Contribute more easily to design for
safe and efficient operations
z Verify regulatory compliance of
proposed procedures
z Communicate more effectively with
third-party stakeholders
z Accelerate the readiness of
maintenance teams and field
operators prior to handover
During asset operation
z Increase operational safety and
efficiency
z Familiarise new staff early,
thoroughly and safely, prior to
handover
z Improve training and competency
checks
z Practise hazardous training
scenarios risk-free
z Plan, validate and rehearse
emergency response procedures

Avatars in AVEVA AVP interact with scene elements to execute required actions of a task

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Overview
AVEVA AVP accelerates operational readiness on all types of
plant projects. Engineering contractors (EPCs) can optimise
plant design for safe and efficient operations from the outset.
Owner Operators (OOs) can plan, evaluate, rehearse and train
their operators for every type of routine or emergency activity,
well in advance of handover.
AVEVA AVP is the most effective tool for: facility familiarisation;
training; construction, operations and maintenance planning;
and the planning and simulation of safety-critical activities.
In each case, it achieves this without putting personnel,
production output or the plant itself at risk. Personnel can
become familiar with remote or unmanned sites prior to
attending to maximise their productivity and safety on site.
Efficiency and understanding can be increased through the
advanced planning and rehearsal of tool box meetings, and
HAZOP assessments can be performed even before construction
is complete.

Zero risk minimum cost maximum effectiveness

AVEVA AVP enables the training of personnel in the most
difficult procedures, in the most hazardous situations, but in
perfect safety. Users can practise anything from the simplest
inspection walk-around to the most complex maintenance
task, either alone or as a team, repeating or refreshing as often
as necessary without the costs and risks of personal injury or
plant downtime.
Use of existing engineering and design data sources makes
creating simulations a practical and affordable investment,
while using these simulations requires only normal, officespecification computers.
The ability to train or evaluate operators at any time, in
any location and as often as necessary, maximises their
effectiveness and reduces opportunities for human error, the
leading cause of safety incidents.

AVEVA AVP supports multiple avatar use enabling realistic simulation of collaborative team activity

Key Features
z Accuracy
Realistic 3D virtual worlds can be created directly from AVEVA
PDMS, AVEVA Everything3D (AVEVA E3D) or third-party
3D design and engineering data, incorporating detailed model
textures and shading. The virtual world can contain enhanced
geometry models with properties recognised by physics engines
for simulation and Industrial Gaming purposes.
z Realism
The physics engine, either the integrated NVIDIA PhysX
engine or another third-party engine, ascribes realistic
attributes to avatars and objects, including gravity, mass,
solidity of walls and materials. Approximate simulation of
certain physical systems, such as rigid body, soft body, and fluid
dynamics, enables a user to experience the reality of a hazardous
or difficult-to-reach environment.
z Interactivity
Users navigate and interact with the virtual environment either
through a direct, first-person viewpoint, or via controllable
avatars. They can open doors, climb ladders, jump on and over
objects, walk, run, bump into objects, even knock them over; in
fact, almost any action that would realistically be required, or
that could happen in the real world.

z Rapid scenario creation

A wide variety of training scenarios, for individuals or multiple
users, can be rapidly created by configuring properties such
as task difficulty and by creating visual guides, task clues and
interface displays.
Custom graphical user interfaces can be created using any
HTML 5 or .NET editing tool. Behaviours of 3D models in a scene
can be controlled using timelines or scripts to create a variety of
complex actions. These activities can be triggered as an avatar
moves through the facility or by the user themselves via GUI
elements such as animated valves, levers, forklifts and so on.
A multi-user communication server synchronises users
behaviour in near real-time, enabling realistic simulation of
collaborative team activity.
z In-app web browsing
The in-application browser can be associated with individual
model elements, providing instant information look-up from
AVEVA NET or any other data or document management web
server, or providing real-time or simulated data from any webenabled data source.
Providing links to websites, training manuals or real-time
process data can simulate a typical method for an operator to
obtain product or work pack information, or to check the current
plant status before or during a task.

AVEVA AVP supports in-application web browsers for immediate information look-up

Key Features (continued)

z Environment terrain and geographical data
AVEVA AVP can contain terrain data, including satellite
imagery and elevation data, enabling the virtual plant model
to be incorporated into real world terrain similar to that
contained within the Google Earth mapping service. The
AVEVA AVP Earth model provides latitude, longitude and
elevation coordinates enabling exact location and altitude
properties to be applied for convincing realism.
z Scene illumination and viewing
Interactive visualisation capabilities provide several
illumination types including point, directional and spot
lights. Hundreds of individual lights, animated or static,
can be incorporated into a scene for accurate simulation of
lighting conditions and effects. Shadows from directional
light sources can be calculated dynamically as the scene
changes, to provide additional realism. The illumination of
the virtual site can also follow a steady transition from day to
night time.
To watch a scene or an event, a variety of camera types
enables observation from almost any desired viewpoint.
Cameras can be fixed, animated or attached to a scene
object, or they can follow the motion of an object.

z Motion definition
Realistic motion and control of complex machines and other
objects are easily achieved, either using an integrated
timeline editor or by importing motion data derived from
other sources. Avatars can be used to represent not only
individuals but also machinery which can interact directly
with each other e.g. a scissor lift in operation.
Trigger actions can synchronise motion and control a number
of non-motion properties for most entities in a scene. These
can include lights, cameras, vehicles, or any other object the
movement of which enhances the realism of the simulation.
AVEVA AVP can also combine predefined (animated) and
physics-based motion in one interactive scene or application.
Complex machine models, such as cranes, forklifts and
subsea vehicles, can be controlled with realistic motion
via standard input devices. Machine positioning can
also be linked to external data sources through the AVP
Communication Server, enabling its position in the virtual
world to be updated in near real time.

Real-time shadows and hundreds of lights for scene illumination and visual realism

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AVEVAbelieves the information in this publication is correct as of its publication date. As part of continued product development,
such information is subject to change without prior notice and is related to the current software release. AVEVAis not responsible
for any inadvertent errors. All product names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective holders.
Copyright 2013 AVEVASolutions Limited and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. AVP/DS/13
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