Introducing Pitch pRTI 6

As simulation systems grow more complex and distributed, the ability to connect them reliably has become vital. Pitch pRTI is the leading commercial implementation of the High Level Architecture (HLA) standard and a trusted backbone for distributed simulation environments around the world, powering seamless interoperability across defense, aerospace, and research simulations worldwide.

Pitch is proud to announce the public release of Pitch pRTI 6, the sixth generation of Pitch pRTI, which brings powerful new capabilities while preserving the stability, scalability, and usability that simulation professionals have come to rely on. Whether you’re running complex multinational exercises, developing a secure simulation environment, or building your next-generation training system, pRTI 6 provides the tools to do it faster, smarter, and with greater control.

Let’s explore what makes Pitch pRTI the RTI of choice — and why version 6 is a major leap forward.

What is Pitch pRTI?

Pitch pRTI is Pitch Technologies’ flagship product – a market-leading commercial implementation of the HLA standard, enabling communication between different simulators through a middleware component called Runtime Infrastructure (RTI).

Think of the RTI as a sophisticated switchboard that delivers data from publishers to subscribers across your simulation network while providing vital services like data exchange, synchronization, and federation management. The quality and capabilities of your RTI are essential for the performance of your distributed simulation environment.

Pitch pRTI is a multiplatform software component that runs natively in Windows, Linux, or macOS and provides all the RTI services and interfaces needed for robust simulation environments. Version 6 is the first RTI with official support for the IEEE 1516-2025 standard, also known as HLA 4.

The Foundation of Excellence

Before exploring what’s new in version 6, it’s worth understanding why Pitch pRTI has become the go-to RTI for organizations worldwide:

  • Strong Legacy: Pitch pRTI has supported all versions of the HLA standard since inception: HLA 1.3, HLA 2000, HLA Evolved, and now HLA 4.
  • Standards Compliance: pRTI has always prioritized usability, standards compliance, and backward compatibility, allowing you to connect simulators using any version of HLA.
  • Industry Trust: pRTI has achieved significant global market penetration among high-tech organizations and is in daily operation by prominent institutions across defense, medical, civilian, and space applications.
  • Visual Control: A distinguishing feature is its graphical interface for monitoring and controlling active federates and federations. This provides real-time visualization of federation status, including participants, object exchanges, and performance metrics.
  • Deployment Flexibility: The system can run as a service in the host operating system, be containerized for cloud environments, or operate as a local application within a single user account.
  • Performance-Oriented: Engineered for high performance over LAN networks, or over WAN connections with the companion application Pitch Booster.
  • Scalability: Supports small and large federations, handling hundreds of federates and hundreds of thousands of simulated objects even on networks with limited bandwidth.

What Makes Pitch pRTI 6 Better

Version 6 represents a significant step forward:

  • HLA 4 Support: Pitch pRTI 6 officially supports IEEE 1516-2025 (HLA 4), making it future-ready while maintaining backward compatibility.
  • Enhanced User Experience: The user interface has been redesigned with cleaner styling that’s easier to read and navigate. 
  • Performance Improvements: Adopting HLA 4 as the native implementation enables better performance out of the box. HLA 4 allows certain optimizations that weren’t possible in previous standard versions.
  • Optimized Internal Protocol: Communication between all RTI components has been refined to accommodate future improvements to security and observability (telemetry collection).
  • Comprehensive Documentation: Version 6 comes with extensive user and developer documentation covering all new HLA 4 features, plus migration guides for existing pRTI 5 users.
  • Free Upgrade Path: pRTI 6 will be available as a free upgrade for pRTI 5 users with an active maintenance contract.

Features That Make a Difference Today

Authorization

Security is increasingly important in simulation environments, and pRTI 6 addresses this head-on by offering native support for federate authorization mechanisms, including an interface to integrate custom authorization mechanisms via plugins.

You can configure authorization by requiring specific credentials per federation and setting default passwords for federations without custom security configurations.

Federate Protocol

One of the most significant advancements in HLA 4 is the introduction of the Federate Protocol. This new network interface allows simulators to remotely access the RTI services without requiring an RTI component to be installed in the simulator itself.

Federate Protocol offers several advantages, including:

  • Connection Resilience: Built-in resilience features make it ideal for simulators connecting through unstable networks like mobile environments. Unlike previous versions where a momentary network cut would remove a federate from the federation, the Federate Protocol can maintain connectivity during brief interruptions.
  • Simplified Accreditation: Systems with complex accreditation requirements can benefit by connecting to the RTI as an external component using the standardized Federate Protocol. Since this protocol is fully supported by pRTI 6, you can update the RTI without needing to re-accredit your system.
  • Enhanced Security: The protocol supports encrypted and authenticated connections (TLS), making it suitable for sensitive environments.
  • Language Flexibility: Accessing RTI services via network messaging means you can implement federates in any programming language, not just Java and C++.

Common Questions About HLA 4 and pRTI 6

Will my existing federates work with pRTI 6?

Yes! Backward compatibility has always been a priority for Pitch Technologies. You will need to update the RTI libraries in your federate with those provided with pRTI 6, after which your existing federates will continue to operate seamlessly. 

Is HLA 4 significantly different from previous versions?

HLA 4 introduces important new features like the Federate Protocol, authorization mechanisms, and directed interactions which build upon previous versions rather than replacing them.

Does adopting HLA 4 require significant retraining?

No. If your team is already familiar with HLA, the transition will be straightforward. The new features are intuitive, and have already been well-documented in the standard, in the sample code, and in the User and Developer guides that ship with pRTI.

Moving Forward with pRTI 6

Pitch pRTI 6 represents the next evolution in distributed simulation interoperability. With its support for HLA 4, improved interface, and enhanced features, it provides a solid foundation for current and future simulation needs.

For organizations focused on security, scalability, robustness, and cloud readiness, pRTI 6 delivers on all fronts while maintaining the reliability and performance that Pitch Technologies is known for.If you’re evaluating HLA 4 for your program or considering an upgrade to your current RTI implementation, now is the perfect time to explore how Pitch pRTI 6 can strengthen your simulation infrastructure. Reach out to discuss implementation strategies tailored to your specific requirements.