In General XR News
March 10, 2023 – The University of Bristol (UoB) has gone to tender for the procurement of an immersive platform for the creation of its new ‘Reality Emulator’ – a “technologically advanced sector-agnostic digital twin facility for the co-creation of future digital solutions through novel experience-based, iterative and immersive approaches.”
According to UoB, the Reality Emulator will consist of a unique coordinated physical and virtual environment that will provide the capability to study complex technical and sociotechnical systems at different scales, in different contexts, and at different stages.
The facility will provide access to a rich environment of real-world research and experimentation platforms, advanced and emerging telecommunications technologies, and open data platforms from a powerful datacentre infrastructure connected to the University’s immersive experience environments.
In addition, the University expects that when completed, the facility will also allow for real-time data monitoring and analysis, as well as the creation of 3D visualization models. This in turn will allow for collaborative experimentation, iterative design and development of new digital technologies and the emulation of future scenarios on a scale and in a way not previously possible, according to UoB.
The University of Bristol’s Digital Futures Institute (BDFI) is creating the Reality Emulator, of which a key requirement will be the use of diverse datasets generated in real-time, over time, historically and at scale, that can be emulated, integrated and synthetically scaled to provide conditions for prospective research on digital innovation and intervention.
UoB is aiming to build and pilot the Reality Emulator throughout 2023-2024. The University is therefore seeking a supplier for its procurement of an ‘Immersive Platform,’ on which the Reality Emulator will be based. According to UoB, the immersive supplier will be accountable and responsible for the supply, design, build, unit test and operational acceptance testing of the Immersive Platform.
The duration of the contract is listed as 17 months, however, there are also two x 12 month extensions available to facilitate extension to maintenance and support and some limited consultancy if needed. UoB is envisaging that three (but up to a maximum of four) candidates will be invited to submit detailed tenders for the contract.
The procurement contract is valued at GBP £1.6 million. The closing date for tender submissions is March 22, 2023 at 2:00pm GMT. For companies interested in applying, please reach out to Auganix for more information on how to submit a tender. To find out more general information about the University of Bristol’s Reality Emulator project, click here.
Image credit: University of Bristol
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About the author
Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.