VR GOES CBT (30)

 Roland Friedrich
benntec Systemtechnik GmbH
Bremen,Germany

Up to now Computer Based Training (CBT) has been a very effective instrument to teach cognitive training goals. A much more difficult task, besides imparting knowledge, is the training of affective training objectives – the training of behaviour – and the training of procedural tasks.  A virtual environment can be a very good help to reach these described goals.

A VR-simulated environment is not new technology as such. Existing examples are adventure games or scientific applications. But to solve education and training problems, it must be possible to use the synergy from the combination of VR scenes with a CBT application. Additional features are now possible due to the didactical options, available from the connection to the CBT environment. The student has a clear task to solve, but the simulation gives not only a right and wrong path, rather there is more than one solution. So, the trainee can develop his own problem-solving strategies „just in time“, during the simulated situation occurs.

All the actions of a trainee within his VR training environment can be recorded and prepared for immediate or later assessment. The environment can generate didactical feedback to guide the trainee to a certain behaviour – corresponding to the level of the objective. The „bandwidth“ of simulation can be controlled to lead the trainee towards the training goal.

The stand-alone VR application is a very motivating media as such, but within a PC-based training program it opens a new dimension of self-paced learning with a real „learning by doing“ advantage.  Besides the CBT improvement due to VR applications, the low data volume of a VR scene allows employment of this training media within web-based training environments.  

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

A TRANSFER OF TRAINING EXPERIMENT TO INVESTIGATE THE POTENTIAL OF IMMERSIVE VR FOR THE TRAINING OF AIRCREW PROCEDURES (56)

 R. H. Thomas, M. Williams, R. D. England, J. L. Evans, D. A. Oatley, C. Ireland, A. O’Callaghan and S. Tiley
BAE SYSTEMS
Filton, Bristol UK.

This paper describes an experiment that was undertaken by a sub-group of the Training, Simulation and Virtual Reality (TSVR) Forum of BAE SYSTEMS. This Forum exists to identify training issues of concern throughout BAE SYSTEMS and to address them using whatever methods are appropriate – in this case, by conducting experimental research. In short, the TSVR Forum exists to promote training synergy throughout BAE SYSTEMS.

Since Virtual Reality (VR) technology first captured the imagination of the scientific community and the general public, it has been the subject of much excitement, publicity and speculation as to its future applications. This speculation has extended to the popular press and beyond, and VR has featured in a number of prominent science fiction novels and movies. Unfortunately, this hype has tended to confuse claims concerning the extent to which immersive VR is appropriate for applications in the real world. In particular, claims concerning the extent to which immersive VR can offer positive transfer of training have tended to be unsupported by objective, scientific evidence. In recent years, however, there has been a certain amount of anecdotal evidence to support the view that immersive VR has a serious role to play in the training arena.

The study undertaken by BAE SYSTEMS aimed to go some way to exploring the boundaries of immersive VR for training applications, and to do this within the context of a rigorous scientific experiment.

The task selected for the experiment was a Hawk aircrew procedural task, specifically the Engine Start task. Two groups of ten subjects each were trained to complete this task, one using immersive VR, the other using conventional Computer-Based Training (CBT). Several days after completing the training, the subjects were asked to complete the Engine Start task in a high-fidelity Hawk cockpit rig.  This allowed the transfer of training to be assessed. A number of objective performance measures were recorded, including: number of training trials required to achieve criterion performance, time required to complete the rig test, and the frequency and nature of errors. In addition, a questionnaire was administered to record the subjects’ opinions of the two training media.

This paper describes the experimental design, procedure, results and conclusions, and offers recommendations for follow-on experiments.
 
This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

THE IMPORTANCE OF A STRUCTURED HUMAN FACTORS APPROACH TO THE DESIGN OF AVIONICS MAINTENANCE & SUBMARINE QUALIFICATION VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT TRAINERS (91)

Robert Stone
MUSE Virtual Presence
Manchester, United Kingdom  

Defence establishments and military forces across the globe have long been exploiters of virtual environment technology (or “synthetic environments”), primarily in large-scale simulators designed for such activities as operations planning, war gaming, command-control-communications and intelligence (C³I) and, of course tri-service pilot, navigator and driver training. However, this exploitation has, of recent years, extended to part-task or “off-mission” activities, such as those military trainers which endow basic CAD or VR models of military platform subsystems with realistic behaviours, thereby enhancing the training of such procedures as familiarisation, maintenance, fault-finding and refit. Virtual Reality (VR) has been developed to create realistic military environments for such tasks as helicopter machine gun training, parachuting experience, explosive ordnance disposal, naval helicopter deck landing, submarine and surface ship blind piloting, officer of the watch training and many more. Also, as military hardware becomes more advanced, the inevitable reduction in real systems available for training means that computer-based lessons, many featuring VR, will become an essential tool of the military classroom, helping to familiarise tri-service personnel with the spatial and behavioural aspects of weapons platforms subsystems. However, the push for classroom VR trainers, designed to replace ageing conventional techniques such as “chalk-and-talk”, overhead projection, simple video, even 2D CBT brings with it new challenges. Not only the challenge of delivering high performance and visual fidelity with the emerging range of low-cost NT workstations, but the challenge of delivering open systems architectures (thus assuring the longevity and reusability of the application), standardized techniques for 3D computer modelling, protocols for the integration of behavioural simulation with multi-display rendering and “best practice” human factors design and implementation techniques. This paper addresses some of these issues by illustrating two recent case studies: the development of an Avionics Training Facility (ATF) for the British RAF F3 Tornado and a feasibility project to assess the use of VR in the UK submarine qualification (SMQ) process.  

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

INCREASING THE USE OF EMULATION IN ROYAL NAVY OPERATOR TRAINING (14)

Lieutenant Commander Adrian Gerard Smith
HMS DRYAD
Southwick, Fareham Hampshire

The cost of providing real equipment, known as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) for operator training is becoming increasingly prohibitive. Over the last decade the Royal Navy’s School of Maritime Operations (SMOPS), based at HMS DRYAD in Hampshire, has been making increasing use of emulation in its training solutions to cut costs and boost training efficacy.

This paper explains the stages of operator training conducted at SMOPS: introductory / individual, skill/sub-team and full team, and details where emulation has proved to be the most cost effective solution. The lessons learned from the recently accepted ASW sub-team trainer project, which utilizes partial emulations of 3 separate combat systems, are examined.

SMOPS has also recently accepted a full team trainer for the Type 23 Frigate combat system (SSCS).  Whereas this is predominantly GFE based, it still makes use of emulation in its representation of some sub-systems. The cost of this trainer highlights the need to search for a cheaper solution for the Type 45 full team trainer.

The paper goes on to examine the potential benefits associated with the procurement of a fully emulated full team trainer. Principally these are reduced costs when compared to the GFE solution and increased flexibility due to the ability to reuse the software in other forms of trainer. There are however several significant attendant risks in following this path. The main ones being loss of fidelity and potentially high through life costs stemming from the software amendments needed to accommodate the continually developing nature of combat systems.

The paper concludes by proposing the alternative solution of having Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) equipment running the operational programme and asserts that it is against the through life costs of this baseline that a fully emulated solution should be judged.

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

EMERGING TRAINING TECHNOLOGIES (89) 

William F. Parrish
Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division
Orlando, Florida

Advances in computer technology are enabling training devices to provide training opportunities that were previously not affordable or possible. This is particularly true for aviation training devices. Aging aircraft and shrinking defense budgets are making these enabling training technologies even more attractive. Over the past decade the United States’ Military Services have made significant investments in developing new training technologies. These research and development investments are beginning to payoff in terms of new training capabilities.

Many of these advancements involve improved visual simulation for both sensors and out the window displays. Physics based sensor simulations that run in real time have been developed for infrared, radar, and night vision goggles. Correlation problems have been eliminated by using a single database for an R&D technology demonstrator. All material properties are encoded in the database, at the pixel level, to support the physics based models. Another development that allows new technologies to rapidly find their way into training systems is an innovative use of a modular architecture and High Level Architecture (HLA). HLA is used internally within the training device to communicate between modules as well as externally to communicate with other training systems.  Training systems can be further improved by using the mission planning systems as the basis for a common instructor operator station.

The end result is that we can now build better training devices faster and at a lower cost. Training events that could previously only be done in an aircraft or in combat can now be done in training devices. Mission rehearsal and training can now be supported by a single device. Today these capabilities exit in multiple devices. This is particularly important for naval applications where shipboard space is limited.

This paper will present these emerging training technologies and their applications in aviation training systems. Current research efforts and technologies needing further development will also be discussed.  

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

DISTRIBUTED SIMULATION IN CZECH ARMY (34)

Vladimír Vráb
Dalibor Procházka
National Center of Simulation and Training Technologies
Military Academy
Czech Republic

Martin Klicnar
Pavel Pospisil
VR Group, a.s.
Czech Republic

The Czech Army has selected the use of ModSAF as the primary simulation model for battalion staff training. To provide the best simulation capability necessary for Czech units, it had to be customized. It was necessary to create terrain databases from a digital map model of Czech training areas, create Czech units and vehicles. ModSAF graphical user interface (GUI) was localized . An after action review system was customized as well to provide more statistics.  Experiments concerning network load during distributed exercises are described. The paper presents experience which could be useful for other countries introducing simulations into staff training.  

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

SIMULATOR PROTOTYPING – LESSONS LEARNED (4)

Cezary Szczepński PhD, M.Sc.
Warsaw University of Technology
ETC-PZL Aerospace Industries
Warsaw, Poland

Since the last 9 years the author is leading the company which developed 7 prototype simulators.  Among them there are: 5 flight simulators of combat and training aeroplanes, one electric locomotive simulator and one tank simulator. A helicopter simulator is at the advanced stage of development.  Basing on such an experience the author would like to present some problems met during the prototype simulator development. These problems came out of the lack of data of simulated object or their incompatibility. As an example the Su-22 fighter-bomber aeroplane training system will be used.  That system consists of the following: full mission/full flight simulator, UTD level training device and Ejection Decision Simulator. Since the last 9 years the author is leading the company which developed 7 prototype simulators.  Among them there are: 5 flight simulators of combat and training aeroplanes, one electric locomotive simulator and one tank simulator. A helicopter simulator is at the advanced stage of development.  Basing on such an experience the author would like to present some problems met during the prototype simulator development. These problems came out of the lack of data of simulated object or their incompatibility. As an example the Su-22 fighter-bomber aeroplane training system will be used.  That system consists of the following: full mission/full flight simulator, UTD level training device and Ejection Decision Simulator.  

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

MILITARY MEDICAL MODELING AND SIMULATION IN THE 21 ST CENTURY (65)

Gerald Moses, Ph.D.
HQ U.S. Army Medical Research Materiel Command
Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center
Ft. Detrick, Maryland  

J. Harvey Magee
SHERIKON, Inc., HQ U.S. Army Medical Research Materiel Command
Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center
Ft. Detrick, Maryland  

John J. Bauer, MD
HQ U.S. Army Medical Research Materiel Command
Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center
Ft. Detrick, Maryland 

Robert Leitch MBE RGN
HQ U.S. Army Medical Research Materiel Command
Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center
Ft. Detrick, Maryland

As we enter the 21 st century, military medicine struggles with critical issues. One of the most important issues is how we train medical personnel in peace for the realities of war. In April 1998, the General Accounting Office (GAO) reported, “military medical personnel have almost no chance during peacetime to practice battlefield trauma care skills. As a result, physicians both within and outside the Department of Defense (DOD) believe that military medical personnel are not prepared to provide trauma care to the severely injured soldiers in wartime….” With some of today’s training methods disappearing, the challenge of providing both initial and sustainment training for almost 100,000 military medical personnel is becoming insurmountable. The “training gap” is huge, and impediments to training are mounting. For example, restrictions on animal use are increasing, and the cost of conducting live mass casualty exercises is prohibitive. Many medical simulation visionaries believe that four categories of medical simulation are emerging to address these challenges: PC-based multimedia, digital mannequins, virtual workbenches, and Total Immersion Virtual Reality (TIVR). The use of simulation training can provide a risk-free, realistic learning environment for the spectrum of medical skills training, from buddy aid to trauma surgery procedures. This will, in turn, enhance limited hands-on training opportunities and revolutionize the way we train in peace…to deliver medicine in war. High fidelity modeling will permit manufacturers to prototype new devices before manufacture. Also, engineers will be able to test a device for themselves in a variety of simulated anatomical representations, permitting them to “practice medicine.”  

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

ENHANCING THE UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE NURSING CURRICULUMS WITH HUMAN PATIENT SIMULATORS (70) 

Dr. Wendy M. Nehring
Dr. Wayne E. Ellis
Dr. Felissa R. Lashley
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, School of Nursing
Edwardsville, Illinois, USA 

Recommendations by leading nursing and health related organizations and commissions have stressed the importance of patient care technology as essential core knowledge for baccalaureate nursing education. Such technology includes equipment that imitates accurate physiological and anatomic functions and displays corresponding assessment data. Didactic and clinical courses should provide the nursing student with opportunities to assess, plan, intervene, and evaluate their actions using this equipment. Human patient simulators provide such a medium for instruction in essential health and disease-specific information, physiological parameters, technical skills, and analytic clinical reasoning. At the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Nursing, the adult and pediatric human patient simulators are used in the undergraduate and graduate nursing programs for education, evaluation, and research. In the undergraduate nursing program, modules have been developed for the maternal-newborn, pediatric, and advanced adult medical-surgical nursing courses using “critical incident nursing management.” This method of instruction describes nursing actions in the context of a critical health incident that requires appropriate and quick nursing intervention. The student’s performance using the human patient simulators has been incorporated in their summative clinical evaluation. Also, evaluation forms have been developed to measure student’s attitudes towards instruction using the human patient simulators. Student knowledge on specific assessment and disease states is assessed before and after instruction using the human patient simulators. In the graduate nursing program, the human patient simulators have been used extensively in the nurse anesthetist specialty program. Student performance in clinical decision-making and attitudes regarding human patient simulators are evaluated throughout their two-year program. Such experience with the simulators provide distinct advantages for the undergraduate and graduate nursing student: repeated exposure to difficult-to-grasp concepts, simulated reality, learner centric environment, ability to learn about rare events or unusual complications, ability to evaluate cognitive and psychomotor skills, and ability to experiment with “what if” situations or interventions without fear of liability. In this paper, we will describe our human patient simulator program and our plans for the future. Human patient simulators provide nursing education with state-of-the-art technology to meet current health care education demands.

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

INTEGRATING MEDICAL SIMULATION INTO A SURGICAL ORIENTATION (82)

Christoph Kaufmann
National Capital Area Medical Simulation Center,USA

This paper was not received in time to be included.

  SIMULATING AND TRAINING MACHINE TECHNIQUES IN MEDICINE (9) 

Pavel HLÚBIK, Assoc.Prof.,MD
Vladimír PAVLÍK, MD
Ambro HOMOLA, MD
Purkyn Military Medical Academy
Hradec Králové, Czech Republic 

The fundamental issue for modern army which uses complicated technology is the preparation and training of the people working with these techniques in addition to the corresponding material equipment. The common tendency is to introduce simulating and training machine techniques into all fields of military training which makes it more effective, minimalizes the degree of danger, and last but not least reduces financialdemands.

Nowadays, the importance of simulating and training machine techniques used in medicine has been increasing. Modern training machine techniques permit intensive repetititon during the psychomotor reaction drill that is necessary for mastering particular medical techniques, and it also leads to its automation and to dynamic stereotype formation. The drill facilitates optimalization of an intervention in the field. The use of simulating techniques under military conditions is concentrated into three basic tendencies, techniques for drilling some invasion methods is the first. Another most importatnt and needful tendency under military conditions is the use of simulating and training machine techniques in diagnosis, triage, primary care and preparation for the evacuation of the wounded in the field. The last and rather fringe use of army simulating programs is the possibility of calculating medical losses/ casualties during military operations and planning of medical support.

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

NEXT GENERATION MEDICAL CONSEQUENCE MANAGEMENT (75)

Dr Vincent Grasso,TIMA Inc,USA

This paper was not received in time to be included.

PREDICTION OF MICRO-SLEEPS BASED ON THALAMO-CORTICAL OSCILLATIONS (3)

COL Václav P ENOSIL, Ph.D.,
Prof. Mirko NOVÁK, Dr.Sc *)
Prof. Josef FABER M.D., Dr.Sc. *)
Military Academy
Brno, Czech Republic

This paper discusses the possibility for improvement of the reliability of interaction between a human operator and some technical system. The main methodical tool considered here for the purpose of detection and prediction of an operator™s micro-sleep is the analysis of EEG signals resulting from thalamo-cortical oscillations, which can be detected in the human operator™s head. If the results of such an analysis are presented back to the particular operator in a suitable way, they can have positive influence the level of his/her attention. This opens the way for operator training for higher resistance to decrease of attention and for micro-sleep prevention. A possible recommendable set of significant parameters (markers) of EEG character, suitable for micro-sleep detection is proposed, its practical application discussed and preliminarily experimentally verified.  

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

HEAD AND HAND TRACKING FOR A HEAD-MOUNTED DISPLAY BASED DYNAMIC SIMULATOR (31)

Gilles Kuhn 1 2 
Dr. Jeroen Voogd 2
Alexandre Heidet 1
Dr. Isabelle Siegler 3
Dr. Andras Kemeny 1 3

1 Renault, Research Department, Technocentre Renault
Cédex, FRAN 

2 TNO-FEL, Oude Waalsdorperweg
THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS  

3 LPPA, Collège de France
PARIS, FRANCE 

The European CARDS (Comprehensive Automobile Research and Development Simulator) driving simulator project (Eureka ??1924) is developing high performance head-mounted display, motion platform and vibration seat in order to provide an efficient research and development tool for vehicle design to human factors.

Under the management of Renault, CARDS is carried out in collaboration by the French carmaker RENAULT, the Norwegian AUTOSIM simulator provider, the Turkish infoTRON, specialised in simulation and virtual prototyping, the British display maker SEOS, the French motion seat provider (and actuator manufacturer) PONS, a subsidiary of Thomson Marconi Sonar, the French LPPA (Laboratoire de Physiologie de la perception et de l™action) research laboratory, the Dutch motion systems provider Hydraudyne and the Dutch TNO Physics and Electronics Laboratory.  The simulator being based on the utilisation of a Head-Mounted Display, the coordination of the computer generated 3D images with the motion of the driver™s head is of paramount importance.  Another issue is to give a feeling of presence to the driver by showing him his body, issue which was addressed using different sets of sensors for both hands and head.

In that context, a tracker system is being developed complying with the strict requirements of usability in a driving task and compatible with the motion platform. The central issue in the design of the tracking system has been the fusion of data from both a standard electromagnetic sensor, for precise low frequency positioning and a set of speed and acceleration sensors for high frequency acquisition.

This paper describes the design architecture and the first results in its utilisation.

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

A SOLUTION SET FOR IMPLEMENTING A MOTOR GRADER SIMULATOR (43)

Sanz, J.I.
Busturia, J.M.
INDRA
Madrid, Spain  

This paper is focussed in the technical problems and the proposed and developed solutions in order to implement a Motor Grader Simulator trying to mach a reduced band of budget an the training requirements that provides the necessary performances for the appropriated training of new drivers.

This type of construction machine has two main differential characteristics in relation with other construction machinery: The soil interactive modification and the very close scenario representation.

The soil interactive modification represents a important challenge taking into account the real time interactive modification of the visual data base from the double point of view of the textures and the geometric. Beside the real time change of the geometric aspects is extremely highly coupled with the rheologycal characteristics of the soil for determining the new geometry according to the forces and pressures produced by the machine. At the same time a realistic reaction of the soil against the machine must be estimated to provide a global real behavior of the system. DEM approach has been used to afford force reaction problem including dynamic change of the terrain.

The very close area of the machine that have to be visible to the operator has conducted to a solution for the visual projection system based on CAVE type, with the added problem introduced by the motion system required to provide the appropriated motion cues for training. The same visual projection system solution has been used for other heavy machinery like a dumper.

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

DESIGN AND TRIALS OF A HIGH-SPEED POLICE CAR SIMULATOR (36)  

Dr. Urban A. Thoeni
Oerlikon Contraves AG, Training Systems and Simulator Department
Zurich, Switzerland

Based on the ADAMS (Advanced Driving and Manoeuvring Simulator) truck driving simulator platform a police car simulator has been developed. The system has been designed for high-speed driving in traffic on all categories of roads. The design issues and the training aims for such a simulator are described in this paper. The requirements on the traffic and evaluation for training vehicle chases and the special training benefits for police drivers are outlined and discussed.

A first run of trials has taken place with drivers of different Swiss police forces. The driver's feedback and possible consequences for the simulator design are described.

Given the special training needs for drivers of emergency services such as police, ambulances, or fire brigades and the fact that it is impossible to train the drivers on the road the simulators pay off very quickly.

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

A SCIENTIFIC AND PHYSIOLOGICAL RESEARCH STUDY WITH TRUCK DRIVING SIMULATORS IN THE ARMY (99)

  Winfried Tomaske
Clemens Breidenbach
Thomas Fortmüller
Institut für Kraftfahrwesen und Kolbenmaschinen (IKK)
Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg, Germany 

Driving Simulators involve the capability of simulating critical and dangerous driving situations up to the limits of active safety. They are employed for investigating the interactions of the driver-vehicle system under reproducible and non-dangerous conditions. Because of their flexibility and reproducibility they are well established in scientific research.

Training simulators are economical in cases where the real object to be handled is much more expensive than the simulator itself, for example in the education of pilots or tank drivers. Advantages of training simulators are that the student can explore situations freely and that learning is supported by hints and feedback.

For reason of safety and environmental pollution the German Army intends to use driving simulators not only for tank driver education but as well for truck driver education in order to achieve the driving licence.  Therefore the Federal Office for military technique and procurement of Germany, BWB, ordered two different simulation systems by different german companies.

This project is scientifically accompanied by the University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg with pedagogues, psychologists, physiologists and engineers. The Institut für Kraftfahrwesen und Kolbenmaschinen, IKK, is involved not only to evaluate the technical equivalence of the driving simulator but also to evaluate the didactical concept of the system.

In this paper the concept of the driving simulator system AAFR (Ausbildungs- Ausstattung Fahrschulausbildung Radfahr- zeuge .equipment of driving schools for training with wheeled vehicles) will be described. The procedure of the validation study to find out the technical qualities and the possibility to evaluate the driving simulators quality will be presented.

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

NATO MODELLING AND SIMULATION ORIENTATION COURSE (106)

The NATO M&S Orientation satisfies a primary objective of the NATO M&S Action Plan to provide M&S education in NATO. Potential users, developers, and managers need to understand NATO™s M&S strategy, the common technical framework, where to go to obtain help and how to identify reuse and co-operative development opportunities.

This education endeavour consist of a high level 1.5 hrs. course designed to help the community to understand the capabilities and limitations of M&S and how best to develop and employ M&S if it is to be used effectively across the Alliance.

FEDERATION CREDIBILITY CHALLENGES (102)

  Simone Youngblood
Linda Olsen
DMSO (Defense Modeling and Simulation Office)
Alexandria, VA

A credible federation requires that interoperability be addressed at two levels: Technical Interoperability, which focuses on the capability of federates to physically connect and exchange data, and Substantive Interoperability, which is focused on issues of coherency and “fair fight” within the simulation domain. Two examples of substantive interoperability issues are functional dependency and simultaneous representation. Functional dependencies occur when the result produced by one simulation requires input from another simulation. A common example of a functional dependency is a line-of-sight algorithm that depends upon a terrain model to determine if one entity can see another. Simultaneous representations occur when two or more interdependent simulations represent the same or related properties of the same entities. Dead reckoning is a common example of the simultaneous representation situation.

While major strides have been made in the area of technical interoperability, substantive interoperability issues that primarily relate to validation currently rely on one of the least rigorous validation techniques - face validation. As the level of federation complexity grows this approach quickly becomes less tenable.

This tutorial will focus on the substantive interoperability issues and V&V challenges that a federation developer faces as he strives to develop a federation that incorporates representations appropriate to the needs of the federation application. Specifically, the tutorial will address the issues of:

• The definition and decomposition of the substantive interoperability problem
• Environmental consistency issues (e.g., coordination transformations, terrainand cultural feature consistency)
• Resources available to support the VV&A process (e.g., the HLA FEDEP VV&A Overlay, the DoD VV&A  Recommended Practices Guide, and SEDRIS).

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

EFFECTIVENESS OF TRAINING SIMULATIONS (88)

William T. Harris P.E.
Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems
Orlando FL

Today’s military continues to face problems similar to the problems encountered for several decades. requirements make extensive demands of the personnel and equipment  maintaining the skills of the operational forces.

The impetus to use simulation in some capacity is getting stronger with the passage of time. The benefits of simulation are well known. The safety considerations of conducting emergency procedures training in the simulators are obvious. Weapons system training in simulators clearly costs less in the wear and tear of equipment and the reduction in use of expendables. The use of simulation allows tactics to be developed in secure environments and certainly the environmental impact is reduced if weapons are not deployed and resulting clean up efforts are avoided. Simulation should increase the efficiency and effectiveness, as well as reduce the risks, associated with training in the operational equipment. To be sure training in the operational equipment also must occur, but the argument is that the operational equipment time would be much more meaningful if some of the training occurs in simulated equipment. The sophistication and costs of using the increasingly complex operational gear – wear and tear on the equipment and personnel – are fostering the need for effective training solutions. Furthermore, the trends in simulation equipment lend themselves to providing lower cost solutions to the training challenges. Computer hardware is lower cost, and increasingly more capable so that ever more sophisticated simulations can be created for less funding.

It is fair to say that simulations could be applied to solving some of the training challenges if the user community had confidence that the simulations do what they are supposed to do, i.e., provide the training the users need to do their job. How do the developers and users of simulated equipment determine the effectiveness of suites of equipment provided to the users? This paper discusses this topic.

This paper will present some definitions of measures of effectiveness (MOE) and efficiency, provide some typical MOEs, discuss the techniques for determining or assessing the effectiveness of simulations and then go on to discuss some results of several evaluations. The many confounding factors to conducting the evaluations will also be discussed.

This paper is available on the 2001 ITEC CD-ROM. Order it from ITEC, Ltd. - Papers

DEFENCE FORCE PLANNING UNDER RESTRAINT RESOURCES (86)

  Professor Jaroslav Komárek
Institute of Management, Military Academy
Brno, Czech Republic

Military operations as the response to security risk are generally so complicated that cannot to be solved as a pure analytical problem and hence the demand of scenario based approach. But the possible security risks spectrum is too broad for to be addressed by the simulation of a single scenario and therefore multiple scenarios must be considered. Comparing with the Markowitz theory of portfolio, where a buyer can omit the set of stocks with the great dispersion (risk), a defence scenarios portfolio must be reflected as a whole and each scenario in defence force planning process included and the concurrence (or even synergy) of forces considered.

As a decision support tool for the force planning a simulation model FORCESIM has been developed.  The model is based on an optional combination of risks that creates a scenario portfolio. Each of risks requires the corresponding kind and number of military units for to be eliminated and when the demand of all risks is summed up regarding possible concurrence and substitution, the outcome is needed structure of defence force pool. The model force structure has been simplified to 15 basic branch units (elements), e.g. Ground Heavy Offensive (tank or mechanised units), Ground Heavy Defensive (armoured artillery), Ground Light Offensive (light infantry, reconnaissance units), – Air Defence Short-range, –Airlift Long-range, – C3I, EW, NBC Defence etc. The input of the corresponding number of units has to be determined for the four characteristic security risks (Out-of-area conflict, Territorial conflict, Terrorism and Non combat threat) regarding three aspects: technology, intensity and area. The initial elements database represents a set of requested number of military units as the output of mental simulation produced by military experts in the operational environment of analysed country.

Each unit represents at the same time a certain cost demand in the case of the activation of a new unit and the cost for the operation of an existing unit as well for the deactivation of a superfluous unit(compar