Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Naval Undersea Warfare Center replicated in Second Life

By Mass High Tech Staff

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center has created a virtual model of itself in Second Life — an online campus that is intended to be a 128-acre virtual R&D facility in a virtual Newport, R.I.

The NUWC said the Second Life version of itself features replicas of many actual NUWC buildings, including laboratories, visitor centers, movie theaters, an electronic library, underwater exhibits and a full-scale replica of a real-world replica of the submarine USS Virginia. The virtual NUWC also features Newport, R.I., landmarks such as the Claiborne Pell Bridge, the Cliff Walk, the Rose Island Lighthouse and Fort Adams. The virtual campus can support more than 500 avatars at a time, said NUWC, which is located in the real-world Newport.

NUWC said the virtual base is intended to eventually enable remote users, such as Navy sailors, to use their Second Life avatars to control actual tactical hardware/software via video networking capabilities while immersed in the virtual space. Among the other features, a 60-meter sonar acoustic tank provides visualization of complex sonar problems such as environmental modeling, array characteristics and sound propagation; a multistory sonar lab provides models of acoustic experimentation; and a vehicle hangar houses autonomous and unmanned vehicles, available for viewing and demonstration via simulation connectivity.
 
In July, Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas signed into law legislation allowing the formation of Vermont limited liability companies (LLC) without any paper documentation or physical location, enabling owners to file all documents with the state online and to store business bylaws and ownership records digitally. The law is intended to encourage companies whose assets exist entirely in virtual worlds such as Second Life to incorporate in the Green Mountain State.

Last year, the Center for Connected Health, a division of Boston-based Partners HealthCare Inc., conducted a novel clinical trial on its recently acquired “island” in Second Life. The trial was intended to show whether patients can learn stress-reduction techniques during sessions in the virtual world.