STANDARD DATA EXCHANGE METHODS FOR EQUIPMENT CHARACTERISTICS AND PERFORMANCE DATA

Lee W. Lacy

Dynamics Research Corporation

Orlando, Florida

Major Theodore Dugone

Army Modeling and Simulation Office

Arlington, Virginia

Robert W. Youngren

Amherst Systems, Inc.

Huntsville, AL

Simulation developers rely on authoritative sources for validated data that support realism and accuracy in the simulations.  Historically, data providers have used a wide variety of formats and delivery mechanisms to satisfy simulations’ data requirements. The lack of standard methods for interchanging the data between producers and consumers resulted in extensive format manipulation and delays in the simulation development. The U. S. Army is leading an effort to develop equipment characteristics and performance (C&P) Data Interchange Formats (DIFs) using the Extensible Markup Language (XML). The multi-organization team performing the effort is developing standard methods for exchanging equipment C&P data. The initial focus of the effort is focused on the Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity (AMSAA) weapons effects and the National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) characteristics data needed by Combat XXI and the OneSAF Testbed (OTB) simulations. Data requirements were developed to describe the consuming applications’ data needs.  The requirements drove the development of XML DIFs. The flow of sample data from producers to consumers is being demonstrated. The results of this effort will promote data sharing and reuse across simulations and their supporting applications and reduce requirements for custom code needed for data import and export. Many simulation systems will benefit in the long term as these standards evolve. 

This paper is available on the 2001 I/ITSEC CD ROM.
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VIRTUAL INTEGRATION EXERCISE II - A CCTT SMART APPLICATION

Jude Tomasello, US ARMY STRICOM-PM CATT

Rick Boggs, Lockheed Martin Information Systems

Army senior leadership has recognized the importance and utility of using a fielded virtual training system for acquisition and requirements evaluation in support of simulation based acquisition initiatives.  The first such event was the BCIS (Battlefield Combat Identification System) Virtual Integration Exercise II (VIE II) experiment conducted during September 2000 at the Ft. Hood Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT) simulation center.  The purpose of the experiment was to use a validated virtual environment with manned simulators to support the operational assessment and subsequent Milestone III Decision Review of BCIS.  The VIE II represented a collaborative effort of a team which consisted of military personnel, government agencies and engineers from both academic and private sectors. This collaboration and the objectives of the VIE II embodied the Army’s objectives for Simulation and Modeling for Acquisition, Requirements, and Training (SMART).  The paper will outline the technical challenges of modifying the Army’s premier Combined Arms Virtual Training system, CCTT, to support a weapons systems (BCIS) operational test.

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WARCON Supporting Acquisition Investment Decisions

Robert E. Stumm and Rosemarie V. Keener

Newport News Shipbuilding & MTS Technologies, Inc

Newport News, Virginia

Acquisition reform, as envisioned by the Department of Defense (DoD), is leveraging advantages realized by revolutions in business and military affairs for project development, and control and the reduction of costs. As part of these revolutions, Warfighting Concepts to Future Weapon System Design (WARCON) will provide processes and tools for better and faster acquisition decisions. Modeling and simulation provide a key enabler in examining new system performance.  Trade studies are performed in a series of steps that include project tasking, requirements development, design, optimization, virtual testing, and analysis. Key to the process is objective performance and cost measurement.  In developing this process, WARCON integrated high-resolution physical and behavioral models to represent complex warfighting platforms such as naval combatants, armored vehicles, and aircraft carriers into a Joint Synthetic Battlespace (JSB).  These impacts used in the Navy’s Fleet Battle Experiments (FBEs) provided the desired performance information for developing concept systems under study. Subject technologies under study are developed to a point where reasonable cost estimates can be made. Cost and performance metrics are combined and analyzed, thus providing the essential information for wise investment decisions.

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AN APPLICATION OF REAL TIME EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHMS

David R. Pratt

Science Applications International Corporation

Orlando, Florida

Historically, CGF systems have made runtime decisions via the use of prescriptive mechanisms such as Finite State Machines (FSMs) and Rule Based Systems (RBS). The FSM and RBS mechanisms are the result of a complex and time-consuming process of Knowledge Acquisition and Knowledge Engineering (KA/KE). The artifacts of the KA/KE process are then turned over to the programmers to implement. The result is often a large, complex, and brittle set of hard coded behaviors. The advantage to these approaches is that the entities execute the pre-programmed behaviors faithfully and fairly efficiently. The downside is that it is often quite difficult to modify the behaviors to account for new events, stimuli, or situations. To address these issues we have looked at the realm of machine learning, specifically the use of Evolutionary Algorithms (EA), to make decisions that have historically been hard coded in the FSM or RBS constructs. The use of EA is not new to the Computer Generated Forces (CGF) community. However, the vast preponderance of its use has been in a priori offline runs to develop a rule base, plan of attack, or path. This has largely been due to the computational costs of using EA. While the increase in processing speed has not made performance considerations irrelevant, they have fundamentally changed the dynamics of the development vs. runtime cost equations. It is with this in mind that we chose to investigate the use of EA to make selected decisions at runtime. Specifically, we developed a proof of principle system to select the engagement rules and target priorities for a tank platoon in a given tactical situation. Rather than having the prescriptive determination of the engagement process, the EA subsystem randomly generates a set of shooter / target pairings and weapon se-lection. The EA subsystem evaluates a set of possible engagements using a polynomial function comprised of the proximity and obscuration of the entities, supporting fires, and lethality.  The highest rated engagements, and newly generated modifications of them, are carried forward to the next generation by the EA subsystem. The process of the evaluation of a best engagement scenario is then repeated for a given number of generations. At the end of several generations, or when a figure of merit is reached, the best engagement scenario is chosen as the course of action. The main advantage to this approach is a relatively small amount of code needed to encode the EA mechanisms and the evaluation function which can be easily changed to account for new weighting of factors. Thus, a whole series of target selections can be made with a relatively compact flexible code base. This paper covers the development of the proof of principle system and the results from the test runs.  Specifically, we focus on three factors: the number of engagement scenarios created per generation, the number of generations, and the evaluation function. Through the interaction of these three factors, we show how the engagement scenarios evolved to suit the tactical scenario.  Key among the considerations is the time it takes for the system to come up with a viable target list. From these results, we make extrapolations to where it is appropriate to use EA as a means of developmental cost reduction and code simplification. This is the second in a series of papers that addresses the use of EA in real-time simulation systems. The first paper focused on the ability to change formations based upon the detection of a threat.

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IMPLEMENTATION RESULTS USING DIFFERENT BEHAVIOR APPROACHES IN THE CGF TEST-BED

Susan A. Gugel, David R. Pratt

Science Applications International Corporation

Orlando, FL

A software behavior implements an action of a simulated entity. For example, a behavior can change the stance of an individual combatant (IC) or move an IC to a new position.  Currently, behaviors are used to control ICs in many Computer Generated Forces (CGF) simulations such as Closed Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT) and Modular Semi-Automated Forces (ModSAF).  A behavior approach, on the other hand, is a software technique used to implement a behavior. For example, in CCTT and ModSAF the software technique utilizes finite state machines (FSMs).  In the past few years, computer hardware technology has provided massive improvements. These improvements combined with the need for more realistic and autonomous behaviors as well as decision-making that handles multitudes of different inputs resulted in the Non-Traditional Human Behavior Models project. The goal was to research several behavior approaches and implement these approaches within a CGF simulation. The project examined in detail traditional FSM, Q-Learning reinforcement, evolutionary, and fuzzy rule-based approaches as each of these approaches provided different mechanisms with different strengths and weaknesses to control ICs in specific use cases.  A previous paper was published describing the overall design of the behavior approaches and their relationship to the CGF Test-bed (Gugel, Pzatt, & Smith, 2001). This paper, the second in a series, details the scenario (and its variants) selected to evaluate the four behavior approaches. The paper describes the specific scenario design for each approach. The next section describes the results of the experimentation for each approach and scenario variant combination. The final section outlines the overall results across all of the experimentation.  This section also outlines overall benefits and weakness of these approaches with respect to implementation. We believe that understanding different behavior approaches and allowing different approaches to exist within the same CGF simulation will allow a diversity of new behaviors to be developed that provide more realism as well as more automation. We believe that these approaches can provide an accurate portrayal of CGFs in training simulations and provide a more versatile simulation for the analysis of new doctrine and tactics.

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Experimentation in Group Robotics Behaviors

Dr. Peter Drewes

Science Application International Corporation

Orlando, Florida

Computer generated forces have modeled some level of unmanned systems for several years.  This modeling is usually in support of manned systems instead of the concentration on the robotic system as a team member.  Robotic-based systems have become of greater interest with Future Combat Systems as well as successes of unmanned missiles of recent years. The focus of the robotic systems has been in the operation of a single unmanned unit, many times tele-operated.  As onboard computational capabilities have enabled more autonomous operations, the focus has shifted to more autonomous operations.  The current research in the robotics arenas has focused on either single robots operating in a military environment, or small groups of robots operating in a swarm type environment. There has been little leveraging of the behaviors that are created and utilized within the CGF community.  Research at SAIC has focused on the group behavior of robotic entities operating in a live environment connected and inter-operating in a constructive CGF environment.  The study explored operating robotics within a “live” (real world) environment. The information and behaviors are then fed back to a “monitoring station” where they are analyzed and presented.  The system is also tied into a CGF system where the real-world information is updated in the constructive system.  In addition, the CGF system provided input to the robotics team concerning the constructive world. This two-way path allowed the experimentation of robotic team members operating in a live environment, with constructive team members, and with human intervention.  The behavioral test bed provided the opportunity to leverage traditional CGF system behavior insertions as well as determine limitations and directions.  Some of the experimentation included behavioral insertion level (physical model level, individual level, group level), performance factors affecting the robotic team including perceived world versus ground truth within CGF and live systems.  These parameters offered a rich set of experimentation results. This paper reflects the lessons learned from the research project.

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ULTRA-HIGH RESOLUTION DMT VISUAL DISPLAYVIA PC-IG ARRAY TECHNOLOGIES

Ben L. Surber

L3 Communications, Link Simulation & Training Division

Mesa, Arizona

Dutch Guckenberger, PhD

SDS International, Inc.

Orlando, Florida r

The Air Force Research Laboratory/Warfighter Training Research Division (AFRL/HEA) located in Mesa, Arizona, has been developing Ultra-High-Resolution (UHR) projector technology since the mid 1990’s. A major lab goal is to provide Air Force fighter pilots with eye-limited resolution during their simulator training scenarios. Based upon display geometry of the Boeing Visual Integrated Display System (VIDS) and the Air Force’s Mobile Modular Display for Advanced Research and Training (M2DART), a UHR projector capable of displaying an unprecedented resolution of 5,120 pixels by 4,096 lines at 60 Hz frame rate is required. The Air Force has several such UHR concepts in development. A UHR projector meeting these requirements would have a bandwidth of 1. 3 giga pixels per second. This pixel bandwidth is an order of magnitude higher than what any single channel Image Generator (IG) currently produces. One way to achieve such bandwidths is to use multiple IG channels in parallel. 

PC based IG capabilities have been increasing at a rapid rate and are relatively inexpensive compared to their mainframe IG predecessors. This makes PC-IGs the most likely selection to drive the UHR displays of the future. However, depending upon the application, PC-IGs can have some significant trade-off differences vs. the mainframe IGs. Historically, when a single PC-IG channel is used to drive large fields of view in fixed-wing aircraft training simulations, they demonstrate a lower database retrieval range than mainframe IGs, which can result in restrictions being placed on the pilot's visibility range. Current Digital Visual Interface (DVI) compliant graphics adapters used in PC-IGs only support up to HDTV video formats. 

The authors posit that PC based IG performance limitations can be overcome with an innovative approach to combine digital video outputs from synchronized PC-IG arrays. Since each PC-IG of the array only processes a small segment of the UHR display's field of view, the supportable scene complexity could be dramatically increased at a performance level exceeding that of mainframe IGs. This paper explores the architectural design concepts and associated technologies of driving UHR visual displays by combining digital video outputs from synchronized PC-IG arrays.

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LIQUID-CRYSTAL DISPLAYS AND MOVING-IMAGE QUALITY

Julie Mapes Lindholm

Lockheed Martin Technology Services, 6030 South Kent, Mesa, AZ

Byron J. Pierce

Human Effectiveness Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Mesa, AZ

Angelique A. Scharine

Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

It is frequently suggested that liquid crystal displays (LCDs) could be tiled to provide full-field-of-view, highresolution images for flight simulation. However, even though LCDs can create static images of high quality, moving images often appear blurred and of relatively low contrast. This motion-dependent reduction in image quality is usually ascribed to the temporal properties of LCD pixels. Nonetheless, the problem does not seem to be generally well understood. Here we attempt to clarify the issue. We begin with a comparison of the temporal and corresponding temporal-frequency responses of hypothetical LCD and cathode ray tube (CRT) pixels. We then examine the spatiotemporal-frequency spectra of space-time images formed during simulated flight: the original, continuous image; the digital-image sequence; the display image; the retinal images; and the “perceptual image. ” In this analysis, we focus on the effects of a pixel’s temporal response on the display-image spectrum and the effects of direction-of-gaze motion on a retinal-image spectrum. In the final section, we discuss predicted perceptual effects of display-determined spatiotemporal-frequency attenuation and present data indicating that, during smooth pursuit of a simple stimulus that is successively displaced in accord with a constant velocity, observers’ spatial percepts can be accurately predicted.

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SEEING CLEARLY–THE EMERGENCE OF ULTRA HIGH-RESOLUTION DISPLAYS

Bret D. Winkler

Evans & Sutherland, Advanced Displays

Salt Lake City, Utah

Ben L. Surber

L3 Communications, Link Simulation & Training Division

Mesa, Arizona

In the pursuit of eye-limited (20/20) training, simulation systems have been limited by display technologies. Displays used for simulation have typically been bulky and heavy, and their resolution capability has always lagged behind the image generator development curve. The tables are turning as display technology takes a giant leap with the emergence of ultra high-resolution (UHR) displays.  The first UHR display technology has been demonstrated in a prototype projector developed by Evans & Sutherland. Displays built on this technology can be compact, lightweight, low power, bright, high-contrast, and ultra high-resolution. Advances in a variety of disciplines such as electronics, manufacturing, MEMS, optics, and digital video have made this technology possible. The challenge now is to satisfy the display’s insatiable appetite for pixels with useful information.  Ultra high-resolution displays promise to advance flight simulation training to new heights. Military pilots will be able train on simulators to recognize targets, threats, and other objects that previously were not possible to identify due to lack of resolution and detail. Also, the risk of negative training will be reduced. The US Air Force, with their M2DART system, has recognized this advantage and seeks 5k x 4k (20 million pixels) per display.  This paper addresses simulation displays, the prototype projector technology, and the impact of ultra high-resolution displays on simulation.

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SIMPLE, LOW-COST PANORAMIC DISPLAY SYSTEM

Gil Young

Lockheed Martin Information Systems

Orlando, Florida

Many simulation systems require presentation of panoramic, high fidelity, computer-generated imagery to a single viewer. Examples are the commander’s display for an armor vehicle in the open- or popped-hatch mode, driver trainers, and aircraft pilot trainers. The lowest cost design for providing such a panoramic presentation consists of an inward-facing ring of CRTs. Flat panels could also be used, but are currently more expensive than CRT monitors by at least a factor of five. Flat panels, too, do not currently exhibit the ability to present sufficient low light level performance for good Night Vision Goggle (NVG) simulation. Modern CRT monitors have excellent low light level performance, are very low cost, have MTBFs in the many tens of thousands of hours, and present excellent color, resolution and contrast in low distortion images. In the work described in this paper CRT monitors were employed.  Unfortunately both CRTs and flat panel displays have unavoidable real estate beyond the image areas. This results in large imagery gaps between abutted adjacent displays. Many approaches have been taken to eliminate, or significantly reduce, these gaps by the use of projectors, beam splitters, lenses, or other means. These approaches have proven to be costly, complex, and have high reliability/maintainability costs, or have created unacceptable distortion in the imagery. This paper shows how the gaps have been eliminated through the use of a very simple, low-cost approach. The design uses unit-power, refractive compensator blocks, which eliminate the inter-image gaps for an observer at the center of symmetry of the display system, by deflecting the light so that the eye sees only the images, not the gaps. The blocks were made of acrylic and have protective glass plates adhered to both front and back. A contrastenhancing gray coloration was incorporated in the rear glass plate.  A 180-degree, 5-channel panoramic display system using this approach, with 17-inch CRTs and 6. 5-inch thick refractive compensator blocks, was built and the quality of the imagery measured and analyzed. The slight vignetting created by lateral positioning of the eye away from the center of symmetry is quantified and discussed. In the simplest form, with no glass plates adhered to the acrylic blocks, the cost per channel for a 17-inch CRT and the refractive compensator, with at least SXGA (1280 x 1024 pixels) resolution, can be less than $400.

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COLLIMATING DISPLAY SCREEN FOR SIMULATOR DISPLAYS

Kevin Yu, Tin M. Aye,  Indra Tengara,  Gajendra Savant,  
and Joanna Jannson

Physical Optics Corporation, Electro-Optics and Holography Division

Torrance, CA 90501

Leonard G. Best

L-3 Communications Corporation

Link Simulation and Training Division

Air Force Research Laboratory

Mesa, AZ 85212-6061

In current low cost flight simulators, conventional rear projection screens display real (i.e., uncollimated) imagery.  Ocular convergence when viewing such displays can significantly alter the perception of object size, but an optical infinity or collimating display can avoid this alteration. Because of their low efficiency, conventional infinity optical systems for simulation have generally required large and expensive optical elements and bright image sources. Physical Optics Corporation (POC) is developing low cost collimating display screen (CDS) technology for use with advanced out-the-window simulators such as the Mobile Modular Display for Advanced Research and Training (M2DART), which is under development by the U. S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Warfighter Training Research Facility. This new technology may also be applicable to entertainment, gaming, and large screen television.  The CDS is based on holographic light shaping diffuser (LSD) technology and holographic optical elements (HOEs). POC’s holographic light shaping diffuser diffuses the rear-projected image, and is field corrected to allow uniform light distribution over a large screen area. The holographic optical element collimates the light. In the initial phase of development, POC successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the CDS concept by analytical design, computer modeling, and experimental verification. The bench top HOE-CDS exhibited collimated projection of monochromatic imagery, with virtual images forming at ~50 feet to optical infinity. This paper presents the current status of the HOE-CDS development project, along with some of the technological challenges being encountered. The performance characteristics and benefits achieved with this technology (i.e., large field-of view; color-correction; efficiency; thin, lightweight hardware; and low cost) are also described.

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DISPLAY SYSTEMS FOR VR-BASED TRAINING: WHEN IS SEEING BELIEVING?

Tammy L. Swanson, Warren Couvillion

Southwest Research Institute™

San Antonio, Texas

Luis Garcia

MARCORSYSCOM PMTRASYS

Orlando, Florida

A common requirement for many commercial and/or military training systems is to produce maximum levels of training transfer without the introduction of “negative training.” Here, negative training is defined as the learning of tasks (e.g., due to non-realistic environments and/or interfaces) that interfere with the trainees’ ability to perform their actual tasks. In most cases, training systems must provide an environment realistic enough for trainees to rehearse as if they were in the real world. As a result, more popular approaches to training have used live training facilities and/or hardware mock-up simulators. Unfortunately, these approaches have been very expensive and, in many cases, (e.g., due to cost and safety) cannot replicate the required conditions for adequate training. Also, continuing reductions in available funds, time, personnel, and facilities dedicated to training are forcing the exploration of other approaches for enhancing training. The United States Marine Corps (USMC), through the Office of Naval Research (ONR), is avidly exploring supplementing its current and future training systems with virtual reality (VR) -based training devices. These training devices integrate advanced technologies (e.g., computers, tracking, locomotion, haptic, and display systems) with actual hardware and human-in-the-loop interfaces. However, before any VR-based training device can be effective, designers and developers must be able to define what specific VR technology performance specifications are needed to meet their training requirements. A major task in one of ONR’s VR initiatives, the Small Unit Tactical Training Technology Demonstration (SUTT TD), is a broad evaluation of component VR technologies. These include computer (hardware and software), tracking (for human and/or weapon motion), and display technologies.  This paper will focus on the SUTT TD display technologies study. With the recent emergence of many new display systems (e.g., Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) / Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) projectors, head mounted displays (HMDs), monitors, and retinal scanners), it is extremely difficult to determine appropriate display solution(s) for various training applications. The purpose of this study was not to rank display technologies, but rather to determine which display specifications should be taken into consideration when designing specific VR-based training systems. The objective was to understand the relationship between display parameters (e.g., resolution, brightness, and field-ofview) and human ability to perform a variety of visually related tasks in a live and virtual environment. A series of tests were designed to measure various task performance parameters as a function of many different display specification and human-based conditions. Through the use of human subjects (i.e., general population and USMC personnel), this study was also designed to help determine whether using general population test data is sufficient for determining display requirements for USMC VR-based training systems.

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DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK FOR IG-INDEPENDENT PC-BASED DYNAMIC TERRAIN

Tim Woodard

Diamond Visionics

Vestal, NY

Graham Upton

Diamond Visionics

Vestal, NY

Rita Simons

Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM)

Orlando, FL

Dynamic terrain is the ability to modify a terrain database in real-time. In the past, effects such as explosions did not alter the surface topology of the terrain by creating craters. The tracks and tires from vehicles did not leave ruts in areas with soft soil. This limited the training value of ground-based visual simulation systems.  Dynamic terrain has become an increasingly important requirement for realistic ground-based simulation. The simulation of terrain deformation can be applied in training situations that involve vehicles causing ruts in soft soil, munitions generating craters, and the generation of trenches and berms by engineering forces. Dynamic terrain has often been implemented using "tricks". For example, rather than placing an actual crater in the terrain as a result of a mine detonation, most simulations simply place a picture of a crater without changing the elevation of the affected terrain. In systems that actually implement dynamic terrain, they are not intended for warfighter-in-the-loop real-time visual simulation, they often depend on a proprietary IG, or are dependent on a special terrain database structure. This precludes their use with existing simulators using other visual systems. It also precludes the use of dynamic terrain in situations where heterogeneous simulators need to interact over a network. Under the STRICOM SBIR program, Diamond Visionics has been tasked with developing a PC-based dynamic terrain solution that can be integrated with components of existing simulation systems. This included various IG, vehicle, networking, and SAF systems - each potentially running on different platforms.  This paper focuses on the challenges we faced in developing a flexible dynamic terrain solution. Specific topics discussed include software frameworks, the real-time modification of a terrain database, the realistic Igindependent visualization of terrain modifications, and the distribution of modifications to other networked simulators.

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SYNTHETIC URBAN ENVIRONMENTS USING QUAKE II ENGINE

Benito Graniela, Jaime Cisneros, Dr. Douglas Reece 

Science Applications International Corporation

Orlando, FL 32826-3248

Game technology, and in particular first person shooter (FPS) games, such as Quake II, Quake III and Unreal Tournament, provide attractive capabilities for some of the traditional modeling, training and simulation (M&S) applications. A PC game-based simulation would be most useful if it operated with existing military simulations using their existing terrain databases (TDBs). However, PC games use different formats from the ones traditionally used by military simulations. This paper will describe the necessary steps to import the traditional M&S TDBs into the format used by several common FPS games, in particular Quake II MAP format. A brief overview of the MAP format will be provided and compared to the traditional polygonal format used in the modeling and simulation community. Details of the conversion process of an OpenFlight Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) database to a Quake II level will be presented, as well as the conversion of a Quake level to a semi-automated forces (SAF) system’s terrain database (TDB) format. A brief overview of a prototype’s DIS engine added to Quake II will be provided, along with some lessons learned. Finally, comments will be presented as to the suitability of the Quake II game engine environment format and runtime engine for M&S applications.

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WEB-BASED 3D TECHNOLOGY FOR SCENARIO AUTHORING AND VISUALIZATION: THE SAVAGE PROJECT

Curtis Blais, Don Brutzman, Doug Horner, and Major Shane Nicklaus,  USMC

Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey California

The purpose of this paper is to describe current work in specification and development of Web-based 3D standards and tools. The paper presents a Web3D application for military education and training currently in progress for the Defense Modeling and Simulation Office and the Marine Corps Combat Development Command.

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Truly Platform-independent Data Entry Devices

John R. Surdu and Thomas D. Wagner

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

The United States Military Academy

West Point, NY 10996

Paul Manz and Greg Ilaria

Project Manager Field Artillery Tactical Data System

Ft. Monmouth, NJ

As the Army ventures into the future and becomes increasingly digitized, a need for more technically advanced equipment is imperative. Many such systems use proprietary hardware and software solutions that are often heavy and costly, tying the Army to a specific vendor long after new technology has surpassed the capabilities of these current systems. Rather than relying on a certain vendor or manufacturer, this project has chosen to pursue the implementation of platform-independent software running on common handheld units. The research and development portion of this project included searching for the technology that will best suit the needs of implementing the platform-independent software. This paper discusses the technologies considered and the decisions made regarding that technology. It also describes the use of emulators to facilitate this research. Finally this paper discusses the pros and cons of using emulators in this software development effort.

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DYNAMIC INTEREST FILTERING FOR OPTIMAL STATE UPDATE MESSAGING

Achieving truly large-scale, real-time distributed simulation has remained a highly elusive goal primarily due to limitations in current generation network technology. While the progression from early, broadcast-based DIS approaches to the current multicast-based publish/subscribe approaches (Van Hook and Calvin, 1994) embodied in the HLA (Defense Modeling and Simulation Office, 1998) has significantly extended the number of simulated hosts that can be supported, limitations in the networking infrastructure still force compromises that historically have constrained simulation exercises to only a few tens of hosts. This constraint is overwhelmingly the result of the networking infrastructure’s inability to adequately control the delivery of unneeded and unnecessary traffic to the simulation hosts – a problem so severe that the overhead of reading and discarding unneeded state update messages can critically impair a host’s ability to perform its primary simulation tasks. This unintended distributed denial of service problem also results in an enormous waste of network and human resources. In particular, the approach taken for United Endeavor of over-provisioning WAN links with multiple T3 circuits coupled with multiple man-weeks of trial-and-error to find a “workable” multicast grouping is extremely expensive and time-consuming. Under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) -sponsored Specialized Active Networking technologies for  Distributed Simulation (SANDS) project, we are developing Active Networksbased capabilities to significantly improve multicast-based distributed simulation performance1. In particular, we have created a capability for dynamically and automatically configuring and reconfiguring application-specific content management filters directly within intermediate network routers where they are most effective. With this approach, we have been able to achieve the ultimate goal of being able to eliminate all irrelevant network traffic at the earliest opportunity within the network, providing optimal use of both network and host resources. Moreover, through the use of filter processing acceleration techniques, such as tree-based filtering mechanisms, information theoretic-based filter complexity reduction techniques, and cooperative, distributed content filtering strategies, we have been able to craft an extremely low-latency (<100 usec) interest filtering capability that provably scales to support millions of simulated entities. This capability is intentionally designed to mesh seamlessly with the High Level Architecture (HLA) Declaration Management (DM) and Data Distribution Management (DDM) services, and a working version has been demonstrated using ModSAF and the Georgia Tech HLA-compatible Run Time Infrastructure (RTI). This paper reviews our active-networks-based interest filtering architecture, the interrelationships with HLA DM and DDM services, and provides technical details and performance measurements of the various components that clearly demonstrate the performance and scalability claims for our approach.

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THE EXPLORATION OF 2. 4GHz WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY FOR THE ARMY’S WARFIGHTER’S SIMULATION (WARSIM) 2000

Hoang A. Doan, WARSIM Hardware Project Engineer

Naval Air Systems Command,Training Systems Division

Orlando,Florida

Dan Sullivan, WARSIM Hardware Architect

Lockheed Martin Information Systems

Orlando,Florida

Rene Lorenzo, WARSIM Hardware Lead

Naval Air Systems Command, Training Systems Division

Orlando,Florida

The Army’s Warfighter’s Simulation 2000 (WARSIM) is designed to be the Land component of JSIMS (Joint Simulation Systems), and will replace the current deployed Corps Battlefield Simulation (CBS), Battle Command Training Program (BCTP), BCTP Intelligent Collection Model (BICM), and Tactical Simulation (TACSIM). WARSIM is a collection of tools to train commanders and staffs from battalion to echelons above corps to fight in a distributed environment. The typical Army training exercise with CBS used coaxial cable, twisted pair wire and/or fiber optic cable to make the connection from the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) network to the Battle Simulation Center (BSC) network.  There are separate systems and networks for data collection, video and message traffic.  WARSIM will replace these systems and networks with one network connection containing tactical,data collection,voice and video traffic using the TCP/IP protocol. By introducing the Command Post Interface Module (CPIM) within the WARSIM hardware suite, WARSIM 2000 is planning to employ the IEEE 802. 11b Wireless Technology. This paper describes how the wireless interface with the TOC has evolved. It also captures the lessons learned to date from prototyping activities and vendor demonstrations in an effort to show the issues with tailoring commercial off the shelf technology (COTS) to a tactical Army environment.

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USING HAPTIC TOOLS TO EXPLORE FUTURE COMBAT SYSTEMS DESIGN ISSUES

Piotr Windyga, Adam Schmidt, Allison Griffin, Gary Green

Institute for Simulation and Training (IST)

University of Central Florida

Orlando, FL

Chris Metevier

Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM)

Orlando, FL

The planned integration of a Future Combat Systems (FCS) Virtual Crew Station with haptic peripherals is a major step forward for the development of training systems for the United States Army. This paper reports on a new approach for defining the way soldiers train. The system will allow soldiers to train faster and more effectively than ever before. The key steps in developing such a design are high level architecture design, equipment elicitation and selection, concrete configuration, software installation,interface development, and testing.  The intent of this effort is to conduct experiments involving Future Combat Systems concepts in support of FCS and the Objective Force.  Essentially, STRICOM and IST are attempting to create solutions to potential problems. An example of a potential experimental effort would be the study of how to train a soldier to process the massive flow of information or inputs that he/she receives during combat operation of the Future Combat Systems.  The project is still in its initial stage of development,but tremendous progress has been made. At completion of Phase 1 this fall,the human-machine interface will be used to conduct experiments under Phase 2.

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The Pressure Mat: A New Device for Traversing Virtual Environments Using Natural Motion

Warren Couvillion, Roger Lopez, Jian Ling

Southwest Research Institute

San Antonio, TX

One of the foremost challenges in VR is developing a way for the user to traverse the virtual environment (VE) in a natural, intuitive fashion. This is particularly true in simulators, where an unnatural method of navigation could lead to negative training; i. e. , the user, in the real world, attempts to do what is required in the virtual environment, with possibly disastrous results.  This paper describes a new locomotion input device, the Pressure Mat, which allows a simulator user to navigate/traverse a VE using similar motions as in the real world; i.e., walk, run, crawl. We designed and built a prototype device that returns the amount of pressure applied to several fixed points on the mat.  The prototype Pressure Mat was built using off-the-shelf components. The device consists of an array of pressure sensitive resistors covered by a thin, flexible mat. The resistor array is connected to a personal computer (PC) via an analog to digital (A/D) converter card. The computer containing the A/D card reads the card, and uses a real-time pattern recognition algorithm to determine if the person standing on the Pressure Mat is standing still, or walking forward, backward, left or right. We used a defined set of gestures that closely resemble a user’s natural motion. This greatly simplified the algorithm for detecting the user’s gesture.  The limitations of the A/D card forced a fairly wide spacing of the sensors; therefore, the pressure patterns were too symmetric to determine which direction a user was facing while standing on the mat.  We overcame this by attaching a single sensor to the user’s waist to indicate which direction he was facing. An image generator (IG) was utilized for rendering the VE while a PC performed the pattern recognition. Data were sent between the two computers via Ethernet.  We were successful in detecting when a person on the mat was walking forward, backward, left, or right or standing. The information from the Pressure Mat was utilized to allow users to navigate in a virtual environment.

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FUZZY SYNTACTIC PARSER FOR COMMAND LANGUAGE RECOGNITION UNDER ADVERSE CONDITIONS

Jorge L. Ortiz, PhD, PE

Electrical &Computer Engineering Department

College of Engineering

University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez

Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

Training of forces for military operations can be aided significantly by applying speech technology to allow people to interact with advanced simulation systems by using automatic speech recognition (ASR).  ASR is the capability of a computer to convert spoken language to recognized words in textual form. Speech signals for command and control must be processed in a reliable fashion especially under adverse conditions including noisy environments, different speaker accents, and stress. Joint multi-national forces operations may be especially aided by utilizing speech and language technology to facilitate communication and improve reliability. The resulting effect is to reduce workload, accelerate training,and improve efficiency, accuracy and time response in real operations. 

The conversion from spoken language to text can generate mistakes due to several environmental and human conditions that “confuse” conversion algorithms resulting in a wrong text output. The fuzzy syntactic parser presented in this paper helps detect and correct these errors in the text output. Humans are able to understand commands under adverse conditions due to their experience,common sense,and other cognitive abilities. Fuzzy algorithms may emulate the human ability to correct and understand words incorrectly converted to text by ASR systems. For example, humans are able to understand homophone words based on the context of the sentence. Webster's dictionary defines a homophone as “a word having the same sound as another, but differing from it in meaning and usually in spelling: as, all and owl; bare and bear; rite, write, right, and Wright. ”Homophones like the words “to ”and “two ” may be correctly converted as in the statement “I have to play ”or “I have two play.”  A regular parser could parse the first statement but not the second, due to the word “two ”that cannot be recognized as a syntactically correct word. A fuzzy parser is presented in this paper that resembles the human ability to recognize homophone words.  The fuzzy parser can help detect other problems in the conversion from spoken language to text such as noise like “ups” or “ahh”, and words spoken under stress such as “twooo” instead of “two. ”

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FUSING SIMULATION AND PERFORMANCE SUPPORT –THE WINNING COMBINATION FOR IMPROVING EQUIPMENT READINESS?

Lt Cdr Dave Joyce RN

Synthetic Maintenance Training Research Officer

HMS COLLINGWOOD

Fareham,United Kingdom

The most impressive military capability is of little use if the equipment that provides it is unavailable when needed.  Although modern military equipment is becoming increasingly reliable, this is causing real problems in the maintenance training community as technicians are typically unable to maintain their skills via hands-on experience of diagnosing and fixing faults. When faults eventually do occur, technicians are unable to perform well, leading to prolonged equipment down-time and hence reduced readiness.  This paper presents the results of a detailed study which was carried out in HMS COLLINGWOOD, the Royal Navy’s School of Communications and Weapon Engineering. The study compares the effectiveness of traditional laboratory-based training, a maintenance simulation and a state-of-the-art Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) at the micro level. The results indicate that, correctly employed, these approaches can dramatically shorten training time, increase the effectiveness of personnel at their place of work and provide a vehicle to make knowledge management a reality in the military context. The synergistic combination of simulation and EPSS therefore provides a very powerful toolkit to enable personnel to maintain equipment at a high state of readiness without the need for exhaustive training. The paper concludes by presenting a methodology for assessing the suitability of this approach to support the readiness of varying equipment types.

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EMBEDDED TRAINING SYSTEM FOR A COMPONENT LEVEL INTELLIGENT DISTRIBUTED CONTROL SYSTEM (CLIDCS)

Harold W. Nelson /Gloria B. Isler

Lockheed Martin Information Systems

Orlando,Florida

This paper describes the Component Level Intelligent Distributed Control System (CLIDCS) architecture for the next generation shipboard Machinery Control System (MCS), and how this design readily provides an environment conducive to embedded training. This architecture, combined with automated control applications, aspects of condition based maintenance (CBM), and integrated automated logistics systems, will reduce the manpower required to operate the plant or shipboard equipment, which is an important design parameter in future MCS designs. The CLIDCS, combined with built-in subsystem redundancy, increases system readiness, maintainability, reliability, and survivability while decreasing the operating and support (O&S) costs. CLIDCS utilizes a true object oriented design (OOD) philosophy for not only the component level embedded software, but also for the hardware and system design.  The shipboard environment must support training scenarios for the crew both at and away from port, while not compromising any normal or damage/hazard operations. The CLIDCS architecture with the intelligence distributed to the device level, promotes subsystem training without sacrificing safety of the ship and crew. The embedded training system is immersed within the CLIDCS architecture, allowing the crew to run applications that simulate the subsystem responses to operator inputs. In the training mode, the subsystem control applications operate in the background, and will interrupt the training application to report any adverse condition requiring an immediate operator response. The embedded training system supports both tactical and damage/hazard control scenarios to increase operator effectiveness and awareness of the operator interface and control system responses. The crew can be trained on the actual hardware, and the opportunities for training at sea promote the versatility of the crew. In manpower reduced environments, these factors are critical not only to normal operations, but also to war fighting readiness.

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MISSION COMPLEXITY SCORING FOR DISTRIBUTED MISSION TRAINING

Peter Crane

Air Force Research Laboratory

Warfighter Training Research Division

Mesa, Arizona

Robert Robbins

L3 Communications, Inc.

Link Simulation and Training Division,

Mesa, Arizona

Winston Bennett, Jr. & Herbert H. Bell

Air Force Research Laboratory

Warfighter Training Research Division

Mesa, Arizona

Distributed Mission Training (DMT), the Air Force’s concept of ground-based training using networks of real-time simulators and computer-generated forces, evolved from earlier programs including Distributed Interactive Simulation and Simulator Networking. In these programs, defined training objectives were often deliberately avoided and training benefits were presumed to result from the intrinsic feedback and lessons learned from battle engagements. Previous research has demonstrated that DMT can provide effective training tailored to meet defined learning objectives through careful development and delivery of scenarios that are presented in a building block format over several training sessions. Using this paradigm, however, assessment of trainee performance has been problematic since the scenarios contain many different elements and encompass a wide range of complexity. A process for developing an empirically based degree-of-complexity scale for scenarios is described. The resulting scale allows direct comparison of team performance over several days of training and will support improved linking of scenario content with training objectives.

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FUTURE-PROOF SIMULATION INTEGRATION/INTEROPERATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Tom Strelich, Cal Cluff

Illgen Simulation Technologies, Inc.

Goleta, CA 93117

Ulf M. Johansson

SaabTech Systems AB

Jarfalla (Stockholm), Sweden

The development, deployment, and utilization of software applications are being fundamentally transformed by a confluence of web-based technologies such as Java ™, Jini ™, and XML. This paper describes 1) how these core technologies support an innovative Simulation Integration/Interoperation Infrastructure (Si3) for the web-based synthesis of new, composite simulations from distributed legacy modeling and simulation commodities (e.g., models, simulations, tools, utilities, databases, and other associated applications) ; and 2) how the Si3 enables any organization to act as an Application Service Provider (ASP) for its own modeling and simulation commodities. Specific topics covered include: the problem background and objectives; Si3 core technologies and implementation architecture; and lessons- learned from the practical application of the Si3 in Government and commercial organizations.

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BEHAVIOR RECOGNITION RESULTS FOR BEHAVIORAL VEHICLE MODEL SYNCHRONIZATION IN DISTRIBUTED SIMULATIONS

William J. Gerber and Avelino J. Gonzalez

School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

University of Central Florida

Orlando, FLorida

Distributed simulations have become valuable tools for individual and group training. A combination of live, virtual and constructive distributed simulations that is highly promising for greater realism in training at reduced costs, called embedded simulation, is being explored by the U. S. Army's Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) Inter-Vehicle Embedded Simulation Technology (INVEST) Science and Technology Objective (STO) program for use in combat vehicles. Among the many technical challenges to be overcome is that of providing a simulation environment in which live vehicles, manned vehicle simulators, and computer generated forces can interact with each other as well as with the battlefield environment in real-time over a geographically diverse, distributed network. A major problem is the high communications requirements imposed by the need to convey large amounts of data among the various players. A research project at the University of Central Florida’s Intelligent Systems Laboratory focused on this aspect of the INVEST STO program. The approach was to use behavioral vehicle model that was context-based to match the actions of the human-controlled entity on the battlefield. By observing the surrounding environment of the vehicle model's location in the simulation at each update time step, the model would perform the actions that were appropriate for its current behavioral context. That would allow the vehicle model to match the human-controlled entity's behavior for a longer period of time than would be possible with only dead-reckoning updates, thus reducing the communications bandwidth required. However, discrepancies between the vehicle model and the human controlled entity, including a difference of behavioral context, would inevitably occur and would have to be detected and resolved to allow the vehicle model to function efficiently. The portion of the model that addressed this need was the Difference Analysis Engine (DAE). Resident on the vehicle entity being modeled, it would observe the actual vehicle's actions, its simulation environment and locally maintained copy of the vehicle model itself. It would then evaluate whether significant discrepancies in position, orientation, speed or context existed. If they did, it would immediately take the action needed to synchronize the vehicle model with the actual entity. The most difficult portion of the DAE evaluation was determining the actual vehicle entity’s behavioral context. This paper will focus on that DAE function of real-time behavior recognition and on how techniques, such as temporal template based reasoning, neural networks, fuzzy membership sets and learning by observation, were combined to accomplish the task. In this research, ModSAF testbed was developed and experiments were conducted using a ModSAF M1A2 tank on a road march as the vehicle entity being modeled. The results of those experiments will be presented.

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