When it becomes commercially available later this year, Immersive Virtual Reality Process is expected to deliver a wide range of client benefits that will help improve plant safety and security, ensure environmental and regulatory accountability, and increase production and efficiency while controlling feedstock and material costs. Energy, chemical, oil and gas as well as other vital process industries will also be able to apply the technology to meet the knowledge-management, training and retention challenges they encounter in the face of an ageing and dwindling industry workforce.

IPS's Immersive Virtual Reality Process can create a three-dimensional computer-generated representation of either a real or proposed process plant. Via a stereoscopic headset, users enter a totally immersive environment in which they can move through the plant in any direction. Such freedom is made possible because the virtual environment is rendered at 60 frames per second, which is significantly faster than what can be achieved by traditional, non real-time rendering.

Maurizio Rovaglio, director, IPS global consulting, says: "The ability to simulate complex processes in connection with virtual actions allows the user to directly experience an environment that changes over time, making it more effective at transferring skills learned in training to the work environment. And because rarely performed volatile tasks such as plant shutdowns can be rehearsed in a stable, realistic environment, users and operator trainees have the opportunity to learn and make mistakes without putting themselves, the community or the environment at risk. In addition to that, using computer models of real equipment allows endless experimentation without ever taking the equipment offline, mitigating risk to production as well."

IPS will make Immersive Virtual Reality Process realistic by applying its proprietary DYNSIM software to emulate the plant environment, linking process simulation models with physical-spatial models to create virtually any scenario that a user could encounter in real life. The inherent flexibility of IPS's technology results in fast and economical program configuration.

Designed for process design, maintenance engineering and plant safety, Immersive Virtual Reality Process is expected to be widely used in the next generation of process training programmes.

Tobias Scheele, IPS vice president of advanced applications, says: "Immersive Virtual Reality Process is another example of IPS developing and delivering innovative solutions that help our clients solve their most critical business issues. The solution continues to be tested in a variety of installations, and we are beginning to realise its full potential and value-add possibilities. When it becomes available in the second half of this year, we believe it will provide immediate, far-reaching benefits to clients spanning the process industries."

For more information and to see a video demonstration of Immersive Virtual Reality Process, please visit www.ips.virtual-plant.com.