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introduction to the conference

G. V. Amico

Director of Engineering

Naval Training Equipment Center

The theme of this year’s conference, “New Horizons for simulation,” permits us to assess the progress, which has been made over the last decade and to forecast the advancement which will be made within the next decade.  I would like to briefly cover both the mid- and long-range horizons for simulation technology as it applies to training.

The mid-range horizon will be influenced by the continued advancements being made in the computer field and will center on the development of training systems.  These training systems will encompass a wide range of instructional media, primarily computer based or controlled systems, to support major weapon systems.  In consonance with this concept, there will be an increase in the use of computer controlled and managed instructional systems.  These systems will provide the self-pacing, adaptive and self-evaluating features of the learning process that are geared to the behavioral requirements of the operational systems.  Reductions in instructor requirements will be an important feature of these systems.

As the complexity of operational equipment increases through the use of onboard computers with their associated control and display systems, the cost of the operational equipment necessary to support operator and team training at multiple sites becomes prohibitive.  This cost factor alone will lead to training equipment which can be directly interfaced with the operational system in a matter of hours.  The pierside concept for surface ships has already been proved by programs, which have been undertaken during the last few years.

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

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NAVAL AVIATION INSTRUCTIONAL SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT

CDR Joseph F. Funaro

Deputy for Training Systems Development

Naval Training Equipment Center

and

Dr. B.E. Mulligan

Department of Psychology

The University of Georgia

Growth in the inherent complexity of airborne weapons systems over the last thirty-odd years has been paralleled by the emergence of an equally complex problem–the design of large-scale cost-effective instructional systems.  Until recently, the Navy’s response to this problem has been much the same as the other armed services and industry.  The concept of systems analysis was embraced as an operational strategy and the principles of applied psychology and educational technology were transformed into proceduralized methodologies for training program development.  The result was called the Systems Approach to Training (SAT).

The principles underlying SAT were sound, but the approach suffered a fundamental weakness.  It lacked a management system capable of directing multiple applications of SAT, i.e., a general control process that would effect a uniform application of SAT across training programs developed for different weapons systems.

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

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TRAINING ANALYSIS FROM AN OPERATOR’S POINT OF VIEW

Larry H. Nowell

Logicon, Inc.

It is difficult to single out a group of people and say that their job performance affects the combat readiness of the fleet without mentioning the Operations Specialists in Combat Information Center (CIC).  The operators collect, translate, display, evaluate, disseminate data and make recommendations in relation to Anti-air Warfare Surface Warfare, Subsurface Warfare, Electronic Warfare, gunfire support, ship maneuvers, data-link operations and communications.  I am not trying to say that they alone do all of these tasks, but it is normally their input that affects the total outcome.  The Tactical Action Office (TAO) cannot do their job unless targets are detected and displayed.  Surface and Subsurface Warfare would wind up in knuckles (disturbance in the water caused by ships making tight turns that can be mistaken for submarines) without maneuvering boards and NC-2 plotters.  The Air Intercept Controllers (AIC) and Antisubmarine Air Controllers (ASAC) are the data and voice links to all aircraft.  Many Officers of the Deck (OODS) have been saved from a near miss or going aground by alert operators in CIC.

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

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USER ACCEPTANCE IN AN AUTOMATED SPEECH

TECHNOLOGY BASED TRAINING SYSTEM

Mary Hicklin and Gail Slemon

Logicon, Incorporated

Computers are no longer deaf and dumb!  The automated speech technologies (AST) have made it possible for computers to converse with their users.  Now computers can actually understand the spoken word and can speak as easily as they can print.  In theory, simulation of the verbal behavior of persons in the environment is now possible.  In practice, the current state of the art imposes some rather severe limitations on such simulations.  This paper describes some practical problems encountered in the development of a speech technology based training system for use in an environment where user acceptance is of paramount importance.  The design solutions to these problems suggest that the state of the art has advanced to the point where speech technologies can be integrated successfully into today’s operational simulators, albeit with care in demanding environments.

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

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A PROGRAM FOR DETERMINING FLIGHT SIMULATOR

FIELD OF VIEW REQUIREMENTS

Major R. Yeend, USMC

Project Pilot

and

D. Carico

Project Engineer, Rotary Wing Aircraft Test Directorate

Naval Air Test Center

This paper discusses a test approach for determining the optimum field of view of a flight simulator visual system as a function of aircraft mission.  The program is intended to provide the information needed to decide which portions of the aircraft’s total field of view should be simulated and which can be disregarded.  The approach consists of three phrases–drawing board evaluation, aircraft ground testing, and flight-testing.   The procedure is described using CH-46 helicopter as an illustrative example but it is applicable directly to any aircraft, fixed or rotary wing.  Pilot qualitative ratings are obtained for each simulated visual configuration during specified flight maneuvers.  Results from the CH-46 program indicated that a pilot/copilot oriented visual system limited the training potential for both crewmembers.  The optimum configuration for the CH-46E operational flight trainer was a pilot oriented visual system.

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

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COMPUTER IMAGE GENERATION OF CURVED

OBJECTS FOR SIMULATOR DISPLAYS

Dr. Geoffrey Y. Gardner, Research Scientist

Grumman Aerospace Corporation

Vehicle simulators have become a standard tool in training aircraft pilots and other vehicle operators because use of the actual vehicle can be prohibitively expensive and dangerous.  In addition, training scenarios that might be undesirable to represent in reality can be simulated in a controlled environment.  Thus, with simulators, pilots can train for air-to-air combat or missile evasion and can practice repeated “landings” on an aircraft carrier in heavy seas.  In this way, astronauts were able to become proficient at landing on the moon long before the lunar lander had reached the launch pad.

Among the most important training cues in the vehicle simulator is the visual display.  Traditionally, simulation of motion has been provided by large model board systems viewed through television.  As the trainer pilot controls his vehicle motion in “simulation space,” a TV camera ranges over the scene on the model board and transmits a view corresponding to his simulated perspective.  In general, however, the model board technique has been found to be too limiting.  To cover the large ground areas needed for high-speed aircraft simulation, a model board of unwieldy size would be required.  A change of scene requires an entirely new model board, and board construction and alteration are very expensive.  There are also optical problems such as depth of focus.  Finally, certain physical scenarios are awkward or impossible with model boards.  Low-level helicopter flight among trees, actual touchdown and motion under objects are examples.  Bombing missions, missile firing, and refueling are others.  The basis of all these problems lies in the physical nature of the model board scene.

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

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The awavs data base facility:

a comprehensive preparation package

James Kotas, Ground Systems Department

General Electric Company

and

John L. Booker

Naval Training Equipment Center

A complete data base creation facility has been developed by General Electric for the Aviation Wide-Angle Visual System (AWAVS) computer image generator (CIG) at the Naval Training Equipment Center in Orlando.  This facility provides both on- and off-line capabilities to attack all facets of the data base development problem.  While an off-line data base preparation device alone will improve the initial ability to digitize and create visual data bases, the task is incomplete and provision must be made for rapid on-line viewing and alteration of a new data base to achieve successful environments in a reasonable length of time.  An off-line facility without on-line support tools is like designing an aircraft without a wind tunnel.  Results are known only when it is flown, and any modifications must be done statically (off-line).

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

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when day is done and shadows fall, we miss the airport most of all

Dr. Stanley N. Roscoe

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Both the effectiveness of pilot training and the safety of flight can be influenced by the distribution of texture in the visual scene, the distance to which the eyes accommodate, and the associated shifts in the apparent size and distance of objects in central and peripheral vision.  Results to date indicate that these factors are involved in various misjudgments and illusions experienced by pilots:

1)          When searching for other airborne traffic or targets,

2)          When making approaches to airports over water at night,

3)          When breaking out of low clouds on a final approach to a landing by reference to head-up or head-down displays; and

4)          When practicing simulated approaches and landings or air-to-surface weapon deliveries by reference to synthetically generated visual systems.

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

Order it from I/ITSEC’s Website.

pilot judgment–training and evaluation

Dr. Richard S. Jensen

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

JUDGMENT is perhaps the key to longevity in naval aviation.  Judgment is obviously critical in the in-flight regime where multiple decisions must be made in a timely, correct, and often irreversible fashion.  Just as important, and perhaps too often overlooked, is the importance of good judgment on the ground.  Knowing when not to fly, planning flights carefully, and realizing personal limitations are examples of good judgment displayed on the ground (Dunn, 1977).

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

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multisensory perception model for application

to aircraft simulation

Joshua Borah

G & W Applied Science Laboratories

Dr. Laurence R. Young

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Renwick E. Curry

NASA Ames Research Center

William B. Albery

Air Force Human Resources Laboratory

Whether in an aircraft or flight simulator, pilots use information from a variety of sensory mechanisms to determine their estimate of orientation and motion.  An understanding of this process and a quantitative model are essential for the development of effective simulator motion cueing devices.  A multisensory model for dynamic spatial orientation is being developed for this purposed and will be used by the Air Force as a database for development of current and future force simulation devices.  The model is a potential tool for objectively gauging the relative fidelity of different simulation strategies and the relative importance of different cueing devices under various conditions. 

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

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visual cue manipulatIon in a simulated air-to-surface weapons delivery task

Dr. Ronald G. Hughes, Major Jay Paulsen, Jr., Rebecca Brooks, and 2LT William Jones

Air Force Human Resources Laboratory, Flying Training Division

Williams Air Force Base

Experienced pilots with no prior air-to-surface training practiced a 30 degree dive bombing task in the T-37 cockpit of the Advanced Simulator for Pilot Training (ASPT) located at the Air Force Human Resources Laboratory, Flying Training Division, Williams AFB, Arizona.  Use of a bomb impact predictor cue by one group of subjects produced no better performance than that of a second group, which practiced without the cue.  Abrupt removal of the cue, which during training was not made contingent upon performance, produced a significant disruption of performance on the bombing task, both in terms of accuracy and in terms of variability of performance.  Best performance was obtained by a third group for which the gunsight itself was initially withheld in training.  The results are discussed in terms of the need in future systems for more active control over the stimuli controlling flying performance as well as the need for research into strategies for making changes in the pilots environment contingent upon performance.

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

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advanced simulation for new aircraft

Michael L. Cyrus and Dr. Laurence Fogarty

Air Force Human Resources Laboratory

Williams Air Force Base

The traditional procurement process for new military aircraft simulators results in a long, costly, and dangerous delay in availability of training equipment, after introduction of the aircraft.  The Advanced Simulator for Pilot Training (ASPT) of the Human Resources Laboratory, Flying Training Division has been modified to provide early simulation of the A-10 and F-16 aircraft.  The resulting advanced in A-10 program development has been dramatic.  Although not yet fully operational, the ASPT F-10 simulation will provide at least comparable benefits for F-16 training program development.  The ASPT modification program demonstrates a reasonable method of greatly improving availability and effectiveness of simulator training programs.

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

Order it from I/ITSEC’s Website.

microcomputer base for control loading

Dr. F. Gerry Albers

School of Engineering

University of Dayton

Simulator designers have been faced with two familiar problems throughout the digital age of simulation; namely, framing time crunch and discrete system anomalies associated with models of analog systems.  This project has been oriented to impact both of these problem areas as well as to produce a piece of gear suitable for general simulator usage.  The primary rationale for conducting this research has been to distribute the intelligence of the simulator to points where it is needed and thus relegate the host computer to the role of a system manager.  The control loading task was selected because of its suitability for distributed processing and because of its need for frame rates higher than the nominal 15 to 30 frames-per-second simulator rate.  The U.S. Air Force specified that the results of this effort must contain data from which it can write specifications and select future simulator configurations.

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

Order it from I/ITSEC’s Website.

a new approach for electronic warfare (ew) aircrew trainers

Burton W. Graves and Daniel J. Marchegiani

Applied Technology, a Division of Itek Corporation

This paper discusses the ever-increasing role of EW training as an outgrowth of the expanding emphasis on EW in our national defense program.  It discusses the basic requirements of EW aircrew trainers and the solutions available.  One solution is the hardware stimulation approach, employing racks of pulse and scan generators to provide RF or video inputs into operational EW equipment.  The other solution is the software simulation approach, modeling the emitter environment and EW equipment in a general-purpose computer and providing outputs to drive the EW equipment displays and control panels.  The software approach has significant advantages in hardware cost and complexity, instructor/operator interface, reliability, maintainability, and ease of update and modification.  However, fears of modeling the highly sophisticated EW equipment and environments have kept this approach from being used.  This paper demonstrates that the software approach can be successfully employed.  A discussion of an RWR training device recently developed by ATI and using the software approach is contained in this paper.  Finally, a discussion is presented on the application of the software approach to new and future EW systems. 

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

Order it from I/ITSEC’s Website.

suitability-for-training evaluation

of the CH-47 flight simulator

Dr. Garvin L. Holman

United States Army Research Institute Field Unit

Although many improvements have been made in the conduct of United States Army helicopters flight training; the most important part of the student’s instruction is still performed in an aircraft under the direct supervision of an instructor pilot.  This method is extremely costly in terms of time required on the flight line by both student and instructor and in terms of flying hour costs in today’s sophisticated aircraft. 

These costs became more apparent during the late 1960’s when the Army experienced a rapid expansion of its aviation capability.  The huge increase in the cost of aviation training which accompanied this period of expansion clearly indicated the need for economical synthetic flight training systems which could reduce the requirement for use of operational helicopters.

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

Order it from I/ITSEC’s Website.

enabling features versus instructional features in flying training simulation

Dr. Ronald G. Hughes

United States Air Force Human Resources Laboratory

Flying Training Division, Williams air force Base

In recent years, economic and resource constraints have forced members of the training community to actively seek more cost effective approaches to routine training needs (Diehl and Ryan, 1977; Vandal, 1977; McEnery and Lloyd, 1977; Provenmire, Russel, and Schmidt, 1977).  Within the Air Force, these constraints have resulted in efforts to reduce the overall number of flying hours (i.e., hours used for training in actual aircraft) by 25 percent by the early 1980’s.  In order to accomplish this goal, the Air Force is moving rapidly into the area of simulation in flying training.  While the use of simulation is not new to the Air Force, use of simulation on such a broad scale as that directed by Congress is.

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

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training effectiveness evaluation–past and Present

Drs. James McGuinness and Jack I. Laveson

Person-System Integration, Limited

Training effectiveness should be the driving force behind the procurement and use of training systems.  However, there are major difficulties to overcome in the evaluation of aircraft training systems effectiveness.  The main difficulty stems from the complexity of the issue, which results in a lack of clear operational definitions.  The Naval Training Equipment Center has initiated a research program in Training Effectiveness Evaluation (TEE), an initial part of which is to develop a model of the TEE process.  The main objective of the initial phase of the program is to define the elements needed in TEE and to specify the interrelationships among critical elements.  Another objective is to foster better communications within the training and operational community. 

This paper is available on the I/ITSEC Compendium CD-ROM.

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contractor maintenance of training devices–

answer or alternative

Maurice P. Ranc, Jr.

Manager, Product Support, AAI Corporation

and

Edwin P. Kusner

Manager, Mather Operations, AAI Corporation

Training Devices, in one form or another, have been with us ever since man first discovered that by conveying his experienced skills to those who were inexperienced, he could more readily house, feed, and defend himself.  The requirement to maintain training devices has also always been with us.

Training devices took a giant step forward with Ed Link’s