- Size of the Synthetic Environment Storage
- Longevity of the Synthetic Environment Database
- Scalability of the Synthetic Environment Database
- Environment Database Correlation
- Database Availability Timeline
- Configuration Management
The CDB specification is founded upon a group of well established formats in the simulation industry and provides a comprehensive set of conventions appropriate to the field of simulation for each of these formats. In addition, the CDB specification also defines all aspects of storage structure and data representation and organization to support full-mission simulation.
The CDB specification is unique because it is an open database format, a source data repository, and a runtime publishing format all in one.
Open Commercial StandardAs an open commercial standard, customers have access to the CDB specification and may develop on it. Consequently, the standard develops over time and its enhancement is governed by input from the development community. By being open, customers may choose to add support for the specification in their own systems and either use only proprietary technology, third-party tools, and Presagis tools uniquely or use any combination thereof. Non-open standards tend to only fulfill specific requirements for specific users and do not benefit from market input, which limits wide market adoption and fails to promote the benefits of reusability.
Source Data Repository
The native format for the CDB specification is comprised of pure source data formats, including TIFF, GEO-Tiff, OpenFlight, Shapefile, and XML. As a result, there is no ‘conversion' of data, which greatly speeds up the database creation and publishing process and also allows for the rapid modification of databases.
Runtime Format
The CDB specification is both a source data repository as well as a runtime format and is designed to be read by all of the possible runtime systems, including visual systems, Navaids, radar, and SAFs. As a result, changes in the database source format are immediately represented in the runtime systems. Because these runtime systems are all using the same database, source-level correlation is ensured.