MS&T Magazine - Issue 1/2009

www.halldale.com THE INTERNATIONAL DEFENCE TRAINING JOURNAL

TRAINING TECHNOLOGY

Day and Night – Visual Simulation EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

The Royal Military College of Canada TRAINING TECHNOLOGY

Games and More Games TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION

Robotic Spinout: Embedded Training

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Issue 1/2009

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EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief: Chris Lehman [e] chris@halldale.com Managing Editor: Jeff Loube [e] jeff@halldale.com Contributors Rick Adams - Technology Editor Walter F. Ullrich - Europe Editor Tom Slear - US Military Affairs Chuck Weirauch - Training Procurement Fiona Greenyer - News Editor [t] +44 (0)1252 532004 [e] fiona@halldale.com ADVERTISING Business Manager: Jeremy Humphreys [t] +44 (0)1252 532009 [e] jeremy@halldale.com Business Manager, North America: Mary Bellini Brown [t] +1 703 421 3709 [e] mary@halldale.com Marketing Manager: Lizzie Daniell [t] +44 (0)1252 532008 [e] lizzie@halldale.com DESIGN & PRODUCTION David Malley [t] +44 (0)1252 532005 [e] david@halldale.com INTERNET www.halldale.com/mst SUBSCRIPTIONS & DISTRIBUTION Subscriptions Hotline [t] +44 (0)1252 532000 [e] mst@halldale.com 6 issues per year at US$168 Distribution Co-ordinator: Sarah Baker [t] +44 (0)1252 532006 [e] sarah@halldale.com PUBLISHING HOUSE AND EDITORIAL OFFICE Military Simulation & Training (ISSN 1471-1052) is published by: Halldale Media Ltd. Pembroke House, 8 St. Christopher’s Place, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 0NH, UK. [t] +44 (0)1252 532000 [f] +44 (0)1252 512714 [e] mst@halldale.com General Manager: Janet Llewellyn US OFFICE Halldale Media Inc. 115 Timberlachen Circle Ste 2009 Lake Mary, FL 32746 USA [t] +1 407 322 5605 [f] +1 407 322 5604 Publisher & CEO: Andrew Smith

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MS&T Magazine (ISSN 1471-1052, USPS # 022067), printed February 2009, is published 6 times per annum by Halldale Media Ltd, Pembroke House, 8 St. Christopher’s Place, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 ONH, UK at a U.S. subscription rate of $168 per year.

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Jeff Loube

Performance of a Different Sort In the last month or so I’ve seen a couple of press releases announcing major performance based logistics (PBL) contracts – both supporting aviation weapons systems/ platforms.

One of the spokespersons stated "Our ability to maintain very high availability rates provides great value to our customers." PBL is not new; Boeing won its first PBL contract in 1998.

The essence of PBL is buying performance outcomes. It is procurement of a capability to support the warfighter versus procuring individual parts or repair actions. The Performance Based Logistics Guide states that a PBL strategy focuses weapon system support on identified warfighter performance outcomes. The guide notes that careful balancing of investments in logistics and technology to leverage technological advances through the insertion of mature technology is critical. And metrics count. One of the best metrics is operational availability. Operational availability is a metric that is clearly understood by even the most senior of “managers”. It speaks their language.

In the training world we also use the term performance – performance based training, or in some circles, performance based outcomes or performance based learning. Whatever term is used it is all about the individual knowledge, skills, and aptitudes that individuals require to do their jobs. Performance based outcomes ask two key questions of the instructional designer: What will the student be able to do? And, how will you know they can do it? What they don’t ask is: how does this training programme affect operational availability?

The systems approach to training is about being systematic, at least that is the way most approach it. The ‘systems thinking’ is about the training systems. Few organisations get beyond Level 3 evaluation, which focuses on individual job performance. We could use some PBL principles in the training world.

In these challenging times, military organisations, while acknowledging the need to evaluate individual training results, are beginning to recognise the need to evaluate how their organisations are using training to get results. We need to move from individual performance to individual plus organisational performance. We need to move from evaluating training solutions to evaluating system performance and operational impact. And, like PBL, speak the language of senior managers using meaningful metrics. Metrics like operational availability.

The Armed Forces Chapter (AFC) of ISPI (www.afc-ispi.org) serves all who seek to promote excellence in military training and performance improvement. Membership is open to anyone, around the globe, associated with the military services. I’m a member and it’s the best deal in town. Where else can you attend, at your desk, webinars conducted by experts in their field for $10 a year? The January webinar was about evaluation, but more to the point, “training impact evaluation that senior managers believe and use”. Robert Brinkerhof and Tim Mooney presented their Success Case methodology to take evaluation beyond Level 3 to show how organisations can measure training’s impact (or ROI), in terms of budget, capability, operational availability or even mission results - all terms that senior managers understand.

And there are success stories. It’s refreshing and exciting to discover them and to share them with our readers. In MS&T Issue 2, 2009, we will be telling just such a story. It is not a story of how an organisation made major investments in technology to engineer change, but rather how by changing the way they trained their technicians, and the training processes and legacy practices, they made a very significant impact on operational availability. Does the story include performance based training? Of course, but the intervention was about improving mission performance and operational availability – PBT Plus, if you will – in a challenging environment. This grassroots initiative did simulate, and did model, but not in the way you might think.

I’m looking forward to this story. It’s about getting mission performance into the training equation, and in metrics that are meaningful and easy to understand – even by me.

Jeff Loube MS&T Managing Editor • jeff@halldale.com MS&T MAGAZINE • ISSUE 1/2009

05

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05 EDITORIAL COMMENT Performance Plus. Managing Editor Jeff Loube insists that we need more performance in performance based training.

08 TRAINING TECHNOLOGY

08 TRAINING TECHNOLOGY Day and Night – Visual Simulation. Wish lists now include higher fidelity sensor simulation for today’s sensor suites. Rick Adams provides a market eye view of technologies and vendors.

14 TRAINING TECHNOLOGY Games and More Games. The US Army is embracing gaming technology and sees a broad integrated role for games in Army training. Chuck Weirauch explains.

18 EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

14 TRAINING TECHNOLOGY

The Royal Military College of Canada. RMC has had its highs and lows.

Currently it is on a high. Jeff Loube explains.

22 TECHNOLOGY CENTRE The Southwest US. There’s simulation excellence amidst the images of plains and longhorns. Rick Adams surveys the ‘training triangle’.

24 TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION Small Robotic Vehicles by 2011. FCS is ‘spinning’ out SUGV and UAV robots. Chuck Weirauch describes the innovative ways training will be delivered.

18 EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

28 TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION One and the Same? Hans-Georg Konert examines the close alignment of simulations for training and decision support, describing the situation in the German Armed Forces.

32 SHOW REPORT I/ITSEC 2008. This was arguably the biggest show in years and was not to be missed. MS&T was there.

34 NEWS Seen and Heard. A round up of developments in simulation and training.

Edited by Fiona Greenyer.

24 TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION

FEATURE ARTICLES

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CONTENTS MS&T 1/2009

MS&T MAGAZINE • ISSUE 1/2009

07

Training Technology

night Sc night Scenes The focus of visual simulation is shifting – to the warfighter’s helmet. Rick Adams looks at the increasing emphasis on sensor fidelity and some of the technologies that are enabling amazing advances in training quality.

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MS&T MAGAZINE • ISSUE 1/2009

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million-to-one is a very, very long shot if you’re betting on a racehorse or any other statistical probability. But if you’re training to shoot a small target that is several furlongs away, a million-to-one is a very good number... if it refers to the contrast ratio of your night vision simulation system.

After years of being the green-eyed stepchild to more colorful out-the-window visual simulation systems, infrared (IR) and other sensor systems are moving to the forefront of military customers’ wish lists for increased fidelity with the real-world sensors being trained.

Instead of polygons, pixels, and brightness, the keywords engineers are now focused on include dynamic range, black levels, and blooming.

“Most missions are not in the middle of the day,” notes Frank Delisle, vice president for l-3 communications’ link

Avior laser visual system.

Image credit: Rheinmetall.

Scenes Simulation & Training. “getting the spectrum just right is not a trivial process. objects moving in and out of shadows, temperature changes, physics content – sensor fidelity and calculating sensor fusion is another level of complexity.”

“If you get the system illumination levels correct, you’ve gone a long way to making a pilot happy,” adds FlightSafety International engineering director Steven nigus. Sensors such as night vision goggles (nVg) offer an imperfect view, at best, so the challenge is “optimizing the capability of their limited resolution.”

The barrier, to date, for accurately replicating the “emanations and radiations” of sensor frequency ranges has largely been the limitations of the cRT projectors which had been the mainstay of military simulators for a quarter century. But today, cAe technology director Philippe Perey points out, “the customer has more choices than ever” – from high

definition equivalents to four times hD... at price points from US $15,000 per projector to $100,000.

Laser Leader The acknowledged Mercedes of projection technologies for simulation is laserbased, and the primary market supplier is Rheinmetall Defence electronics, which acquired a controlling interest last year in Jenoptik subsidiary lDT laser Display Technology gmbh. At the I/ITSec conference in December, Rheinmetall demonstrated a prototype “VisIR” version of its third-generation Avior laser visual system, for which the Swiss Army will be the launch customer with a 30channel system.

The Avior VisIR system uses a 4th light source – a very small (7 x 10 cm) diode laser to create the 810 nanometer infrared image used to stimulate a trainee’s real-world night vision goggles. The

IR image is separate from the out-thewindow image created by red, green, and blue semiconductor-driven lasers.

The rationale for two separate images, according to Rheinmetall vice-president Mike Schmidt, is that “you have to meet two expectations – a dark oTW scene for the naked eye and a very bright IR in the goggles.” The two images can therefore be adjusted independently without compromising the fidelity of either.

“We can stimulate the night vision goggles directly in a way that was not possible to date.” Rheinmetall even boldly guarantees a contrast ratio of 1,000,000 to 1. one knock on laser-based systems has been the relatively high cost. Avior systems command 70-80,000 euros per channel (about US$ 90-100,000). Previous generations had been as much as $150,000, but Schmidt says higher production volumes (now 80 or more channels per year versus 30 for prior years) and other measures have reduced costs.

The next generation promises to be even more affordable. “Diode lasers are becoming more powerful and much cheaper,” explains Schmidt. he notes that Mitsubishi electric unveiled a laser television last year, and several companies are researching diode lasers. Rheinmetall is expecting a more powerful green diode laser to hit the market in the coming months, and can then replace the RgB semiconductors with diodes. This will eliminate modulators, and enable higher resolution and scalable solutions. evans & Sutherland, which sold most of its visual simulation business to Rockwell collins last year, now offers an ultra-highresolution laser projector with “nanopixel” technology, claiming display content up to 32 million pixels (i.e. 16 times hD).

LCOS 2-3-8-10 For programs with more modest budgets, lcoS has been the odds-on favorite to win the race... except for a stretch when it pulled up lame. The sole manufacturing source of a critical component for simulation-specific lcoS projectors could not produce in volume, setting the industry back several months.

MS&T MAGAZINE • ISSUE 1/2009

09

Training Technology

What has emerged from that dilemma is an array of options.

Consumer electronics giant Sony, which normally disdains a market with small numbers, has entered the simulation space at three levels – 2 mp commercial off-the-shelf LCoS systems, as part of 3.2 mp simulation-specific partnerships, and an 8.8 mp (roughly 4 times HD) resolution package.

“We’re extremely happy to find a whole new business we hadn’t been involved with before,” says Sony marketing manager Andre Floyd.

Sony’s 8.8 mp SXRD 4K projectors (4096 x 2160 native resolution, 2500:1 contrast ratio) are being used by Video Display Corporation (VDC) for the US Navy’s Multipurpose Supporting Arms Trainer (MSAT) program at the Naval Air Strike and Air Warfare Center, Fallon, Nevada, and the Naval Amphibious Base – Coronado, San Diego, California.

The MSAT trains Forward Air Controllers, for whom high resolution imagery is vital to their task of identifying small targets against camouflaged backgrounds at long distances.

3D Perception’s CompactUTM 8.8M is used for image warping and blending to achieve accurate color matching and uniform black levels.

JVC unveiled a 10 mp ultra high-res projector in mid-2008, the DLA-SH4K, featuring 1.27-inch light amplifiers and a new optical system. Barco is offering the JVC product (4096 x 2400, 10,000:1) as the LX-5. “The simulation market is still pretty sensitive. The cost of IG channels has not come down enough” to spike demand for 8-10 mp projectors, according to Barco international manager Paul Lyon.

Barco and Rockwell Collins’ display unit (the former SEOS) are aggressively marketing 3.2 mp systems, believed to be in the $40-70,000 price range.

Rockwell’s Zorro 2015HC projectors (2048 x 1536) are being fitted to the F35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) trainers, as well as an undisclosed UK customer device. Principal engineering manager Geoff Blackham believes the 2015’s simulation features such as automatic lamp change, gamma control, motion blur reduction, electronic blending, and auto-alignment position it “a generation ahead of commercial projectors.” He claims a contrast ratio of 500,000 - 750,000 to 1 for “high resolution everywhere” and “an unrivaled 10

From top to bottom Sony’s SXRD 4K, Rockwell Collins’ Zorro 2015HC and Barco’s LX-5.

Image credits: Sony/Rockwell Collins/Barco.

performance with night vision goggles.”

Zorro’s patented 4th panel design, which controls “leakage” of black levels can provide remodulation for contrast up to a million to one. “You get true black and peak white simultaneously.”

The JSF simulator cockpit will be surrounded by a near-spherical “Griffin” display dome. “We believe pilots prefer the continuity of a dome’s image surface to that of flat facets,” Rockwell Collins’ executive consultant Owen Wynn notes.

Barco calls its SIM 7Q (also 2048 x 1536) “the brightest LCoS training projector on the market... both white and black levels are three times brighter and three times darker, respectively, compared to traditional solutions.”

Lyon says Barco doubles the SIM 7’s inherent sequential contrast of 6000:1 with a technique called Extended Contrast Ratio. “The competition says they do a million to one, but you don’t need that. Twelve thousand to one is enough.

The black is where it needs to be, and there are sufficient bright light points to bloom the goggles.” In addition, it enables smearing reduction, resulting in a far greater degree of realism.

“There’s a lot of ‘specmanship’ going on,” Lyon suggests. “They’re all taking potshots at LCOS. But they don’t understand our product. We offer the best value for night vision stimulation in the industry.”

By the end of March, Barco anticipates increasing its IR projection capability, increasing the “stimulation energy” using 23-bit per color processing for night vision (compared with 10bit for previous generation systems.)

Lyon says one benefit will be to “eliminate any kind of banding for dark and bright levels.”

Sony and VDC are also collaborating on a simulation-tailored HD-level 2 mp (1920 x 1080) projector – the VPLGH10. The new projector will incorporate “Motionflow” technology to remove blurry images from fast motion content.

Sony’s Floyd says the 120 Hz frame rate inserts black frames in between.

If you prefer a pure COTS projector, suitable for commercial Level D type applications. Sony and JVC both offer 2 mp (1920 x 1080) products for about $15,000 per channel. CAE has been using Sony’s VPL-VW60 for civil trainers at a rate of “practically one a week,” according to Perey.

DLP Surprise Digital light processor (DLP)-based projectors had previously been perceived as inadequate for NVG stimulation, topping out around 2 mp resolution. But Christie Digital surprised the I/ITSEC conference with announcement of its “Matrix StIM”, using TI’s Darkchip 3 and a “solid state illumination engine” (LED) to simultaneously display visible light (RGB) and IR. They call the technology “InfraRGB” and tout its advantages of no lamps or other consumables for more than 50,000 hours mean-timebetween-failure (MTBF), a “virtually maintenance-free system.”

The lamp-less system features very

MS&T MAGAZINE • ISSUE 1/2009

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spectrum using LED illumination. It is the first intelligent projection system to enable real-time balancing

Christie – changing the way you view simulation.

christiedigital.com/simrevolution Inset photos: Courtesy of MetaVR, Inc.

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1/23/09 4:00:34 PM

Training Technology

low power consumption and lower cooling requirements. An array of the displays is self-monitoring via Christie’s ArrayLOC real-time auto-calibration, balancing color, brightness, and black levels with no additional latency. Full white/ black contrast ratio is 100,000:1. Cost per channel is estimated around $30-40,000.

“The projector’s light source has remained stubbornly non-solid-state – until now,” muses lead designer Alen Koebel. “Night vision simulation and training requires black levels as low as possible. The strength of LEDs in this respect is the ability to ‘dial’ their light output down to zero when required.”

Zoran Veselic, vice president, Visual Environments at Christie, says Matrix StIM was “purpose built for the simulation industry from the ground up.” The RGB-only version helped Christie win an upgrade of the US Air Force’s A-10 simulators, to which they plan to add the IR LED. Massachusetts small business Display Solutions debuted its 3-chip DLP “Orion” projector at IITSEC, said to be the first projector that conforms to simulation and training needs while maintaining a “commercial” price. Target applications

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MS&T MAGAZINE • ISSUE 1/2009

Boeing has selected the Presagis Lyra image generator to support the development of the next-generation Apache helicopter simulator.

Image credit: Presagis.

include maritime, avionics, rapid motion vehicles, and NVG. Equipe has also developed a DLPbased projector “from the ground up for high-fidelity simulation.” With 15 percent more pixels (1920 x 1920) and a 15,000:1 contrast ratio, the “Contour 600” uses a

“Dual Fast Iris” for enhanced nighttime scenes and NVG compatibility. Equipe’s Terry Burns says DLP response times are measured in micro seconds, “some 1000 times faster than LCoS,” so smear effects are reduced to “undetectable levels.”

Software developer Presagis will apply its off-the-shelf Lyra Sensors image generator – including infrared and NVG simulations – to Boeing’s next-generation Apache Block III engineering development simulator. Lyra is powered by Concurrent’s ImaGen visual server.

NVG training is even available on some flight training devices (FTDs). Frasca International recently built Level 6 Eurocopter EC-135 and AS350 trainers for Bell Helicopter’s academy in Lake Charles, Louisiana. “Display system attributes and database features can be tweaked in order to maximize realism,” notes Frasca graphics engineering manager Geoff Leu.

Drifting Along One of the drawbacks of LCoS projectors and their CRT predecessors is burn out.

“CRTs are very drifty,” notes Dr. Charles Lloyd, principal staff engineer at Flight-

Safety. “The ratio of IR and visible light doesn’t remain constant over the life of the tube. It may be too light, too dim, too red. LCoS and LCDs tend to bleach out the color of the primaries.” Boeing’s Carl Vorst, principal investigator, visual systems R&D, concurs: “The fixed color gamut and brightness drift over time due to lamp and optical component aging.”

So projectors have to be re-calibrated frequently, a not inconsequential process that used to take about an hour per 3-channel CRT array. FSI has developed a Display Management System (DMS) which can perform complete auto-calibration on any of the new LCoS or DLP projectors in less than 40 seconds per channel.

Over the past decade, according to Lloyd, “the vast majority” of training visual systems used projector-based correction. The standalone software DMS uses IG-based correction instead, “so you can buy a projector from anybody.”

FSI expects to install 20 DMS systems in 2009, essentially any customers receiving the Vital X image generator as a new install or upgrade.

Auto-calibration specialist Scalable Displays has partnered with Advanced Rotor Technology on a trainer for the Naval Air Warfare Center in Patuxent, Maryland. ART’s HeliFlight-R is a reconfigurable flight simulator in a 12-foot carbon fiber dome. Scalable Display’s EasyBlend software uses digital camera feedback to speed and simplify the calibration of the three LCOS projectors, reducing time to minutes.

Track Attack If the ultimate purpose of sensor simulation is to feed images and symbology into a warfighter’s helmet, you need to know where his head is at... physically, that is.

InterSense motion trackers are being used on Lockheed Martin’s JSF, L-3 Link’s Army Flight School XXI, and Rockwell Collins’ Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (AVCATT).

Their latest inertial-optical hybrid, the IS-1200 InertiaHawk, uses a small (59 grams) 1280 x 1024 optical camera (InertiaCam) attached somewhere in the cockpit and a miniature, 25 gram InertiaPen attached to the helmet.

The result, according to Dean Wormell, director of visualization & simulation

applications marketing at InterSense, is 6 degree of freedom tracking wherever the helmet is pointed.

Sarnoff Corporation and Chatten Associates are developing ground vehicle operational systems that, in effect, provide a virtual reality view of the outside world. A 360-degree imager mounted on top of the vehicle provides a visual display to a handheld device or helmet mounted display inside the vehicle – almost as if the tank were made of glass. If a target is identified, it can be “tagged” with a virtual spot on the display and handed over to a gunner who can deploy a weapon just by looking in the direction of the target.

Polhemus’ 6 DOF head tracker is known as SCOµT (Self-Contained Micro Tracker) and is extremely lightweight.

Program manager Skip Rodgers pegs it at 35 grams total. “The system completely eliminates the need for any electronics unit and goes on the helmet itself without requiring tie back to a control box.”

SCOµT offers 3mr accuracy and 3.5ms latency, “the true performance leader in helmet tracking.” Applications to date include F-16 simulators and A-10 flight test for the US Air Force.

And if you’re feeding a steady stream of sensor information to a pilot’s helmet, he needs some training for that as well.

So Boeing has developed an add-on kit to simulate the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) used in the F-15, F16, and F/A-18. The operational JHMCS is produced by Vision Systems International (VSI), a partnership between Kaiser (now part of Rockwell Collins) and Elbit Systems of America.

“The JHMCS allows the pilot to deploy a weapon across great distances without turning the aircraft, which causes you to be vulnerable,” explains Boeing’s Randy Kovaluk, helmet mounted display product lead. “He can fire just by looking at something.”

The retrofit kit for the simulator creates an emulation of the aircraft electronic unit that fuses the sensor information for delivery to the pilot’s helmet. The effects include “puppers” – the aiming crosses of the high off-boresight sensor, and all the alerts and cues provided by the actual aircraft helmet.

More than 20 trainers have been updated with the JHMCS capability, and Kovaluk says it’s easy to adapt for future aircraft that use the VSI helmet. ms&t

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Training Technology

W

ith its program of record for gaming technology firmly established, the US Army is moving toward a future that will see gaming engines fully integrated with major simulation-based training devices, service common digital databases and battle command software for tomorrow’s training exercises. Gaming technology applications will become widespread throughout the service providing low-cost, low-overhead solutions to fill a large number of training gaps.

These are just some of the near-term predictions offered up by some service gaming experts as they gazed into their crystal balls at a vision of the future for Army gaming technology applications in the next five years.

Game After Ambush!

The next big push for Army gaming has been kicked off with the Army’s Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI), December 2008 $10.7 million contract award to prime contractor Laser Shot, Inc., and its partners Bohemia Interactive and Calytrix Technologies. They are to provide an enterprise-level license to the Army for a desktop training simulator that will be known as the Game After Ambush 14

MS&T MAGAZINE • ISSUE 1/2009

(GAA). This first-person-based shooter is a next-generation version of the popular Ambush! gaming platform, which has now been incorporated into Army training programs at hundreds of locations.

PEO STRI, which took over responsibility for Ambush! from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has reportedly distributed more than 4,000 copies of the game.

According to Laser Shot, Bohemia Interactive’s “Virtual Battlespace 2” (VBS2) will be the base platform for the GAA. Laser Shot’s “Tactical Weapon Simulator”, and Calytrix’ “LVC Game” for VBS2 are also included in the software to provide versatility for desktop simulation, and the ability to integrate training devices and interface with other simulations. Laser Shot will be responsible for production, fielding, training, software updates, technical support, and a Web portal in support of the Army’s initiative. Bohemia Interactive and Calytrix will each provide crucial pieces of the overall product, as well as delivery teams over the length of the contract.

The contract could last for five years and has a potential total value of more than $17 million.

According to Leslie Dubow, the PEO’s Project Director for Gaming Tech-

Bohemia Interactive’s Virtual Battlespace 2 (VBS2) will be the base platform for the Game After Ambush.

Image credit: Bohemia Interactive.

nologies for its Air and Command Tactical Trainers (ACTT) Program Management office, the GAA will provide all of the Ambush! game’s capabilities along with additional ones, including mission and terrain editing and perhaps most importantly, interoperability with Army training devices and common database initiatives such as the One Tactical Engagement System (One TESS) and One Semi-Automated Forces (One SAF).

Under the initial roll out, 70 sets, which include the new game and supporting hardware and the game-based Tactical Language Trainer Bilateral Negotiator developed by the Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM)’s Simulation & Training Technology Center (STTC), will be delivered to 53 strategic active Army, National Guard and Reserves training centers in the US and Europe within the next eight months.

Like Ambush! the new game provides a simulated environment in which soldiers can conduct nearly all phases of

From Ambush! to the Game After Ambush!

Gaming technology is going to play a major training role in US Army’s future.

At least, that’s the plan, and it is happening now. Chuck Weirauch explains.

combat operations. Soldiers will be able to drive virtual vehicles, fire virtual weapons and pilot virtual unmanned aerial vehicles in a virtual environment. When linked to trainers like the AVCATT, soldiers in those trainers will operate in the same environment, while the soldiers in the GAA game will “see” and communicate with, in the case of the AVCATT, the simulated aviation assets for combined air-ground forces training. The original Ambush! game did not have such a capability.

highlight its applications for training in all of those domains.

During the 2009-2015 timeline, the GAA will be the primary gaming tool leveraged by the institutional and operational Army for training applications, just as Ambush! has been in previous years.

However, its interoperability capability, something that even the latest version of Ambush! does not have, could provide schoolhouses and units with a much better tool for combined forces training.

Interoperability New Funding This new thrust is the first wave of a $50 million PEO STRI-administered Army program through 2015 to advance gaming technology applications for training.

The funding is a direct result of the Army having developed a basic requirements document and a program of record for gaming technology in 2008, according to ACTT Product Manager Lt. Col. Gary Stevens. Now requests for funding gaming solutions for training can be part of a line-item fiscal year budget, just as they are for other training devices, he pointed out. Another distinction will be the designation of gaming technology as LVC-G (live, virtual and constructive – gaming) to both break it out in the budget, yet

The interoperability capability was demonstrated during I/ITSEC 2008 in the ACTT section of PEO STRI’s exhibit space. Here, a successful simulated rescue mission was conducted within an exercise environment linking VBS2, an Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer AVCATT), One SAF and Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) environments. The successful air and ground combined arms training exercise was the result of a PEO STRI interoperability experiment.

“We were able to demonstrate that virtual, gaming, constructive and battle command elements all interoperated successfully in that environment, along with voice communications operations

and Voice-over Internet Protocol in gaming,” Stevens explained. “What we showed at I/ITSEC can be replicated (at locations where AVCATTs have been fielded, along with GAA system package) with not a lot of overhead for air-ground integration training.”

Stevens and Dubow expect that such new applications of the GAA will continue to grow as Army training installations and operational units find creative uses for it to help fill training gaps, much as they did with the Ambush! game. Since the Army has ownership of the enterprise license agreement for GAA, PEO STRI can distribute as many copies of the program as are requested, essentially having the capability to field the game to the entire Army, Dubow pointed out. More than 400 assorted commands, schools and units have employed Ambush! in their training curricula.

With the established funding for gaming technology development and support, PEO STRI will have the resources to work with to keep up with technology for the GAA and other gaming for training initiatives over the next six years, Dubow said.

The goal is to keep the gaming program effort as flexible as possible in order to incorporate the latest gaming advances, including open-source tools. One push MS&T MAGAZINE • ISSUE 1/2009

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Training Technology

will be to develop a Web-based gaming portal and provide access for it through Army Knowledge Online (AKO).

Another goal is to make gaming content available through the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) network, while other goals are to find ways to support Future Combat System (FCS) and Dismounted Soldier training though gaming technology.

Bright Future Both Dubow and Stevens foresee a bright future of Army gaming initiatives, now that a program of record has been established. Dubow predicts that by 2015, the Army will have a very robust gaming community that will be able to provide the latest in training applications while having a system that will be able to procure them quickly.

“In six years, we will have a different game (than the GAA), and we will be able to further integrate gaming into training devices like the AVCATT, the Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT) and other training devices,” Stevens said. “We will also see that gaming technology will be integrated more across the Army.”

TRADOC Integration across the Army will be impelled by the development and implementation of gaming technology solutions to fill a large number of training gaps that are currently not being addressed, according to Col. Mark McManigal, Director of the Futures and Integration Directorate at the Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC)’s National Simulation Center. TRADOC has received input from the operational Army to develop the requirements that could lead to such solutions. TRADOC worked with PEO STRI to help refine the training requirements for the GAA. These requirements led to specific capabilities in the GAA, including LVC interoperability, the simulation of command and control systems, and 3D after-action review.

After evaluating how gaming technology could help resolve some of the Army’s training gaps, TRADOC determined that such training tools would be applicable in a number of areas, including the enhancement of mission planning and mission rehearsal capabilities. Other areas include battle drills; warrior tasks; leader development through the capabil16

GAA will allow soldiers to drive virtual vehicles, fire virtual weapons and pilot virtual unmanned aerial vehicles in a virtual environment.

Image credit: Bohemia Interactive.

ity to rehearse; tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP) and standard operating procedures (SOP) development; battle command training, small unit independent operations training; cultural and language development and multi-echelon training. Eventually, as gaming applications are refined and accepted, the technology could be employed for training across the full spectrum of operations for the Army, McManigal pointed out.

“I think that there is a big future for it (gaming technology),” McManigal said.

“We have just spearheaded this new training capability for the Army, and it’s going to take off like a big, tall grassfire.

One reason is because we are growing the Army. We have to look at innovative ways to train these soldiers at the company level, as we do in the Game After Ambush!”

RDECOM The Army is also working to develop gaming prototypes for other types of training needs such as the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TC3). According to STTC Science and Technology Manager Rodney Long, most of the operations the command is focusing on are of a nonkinetic nature The TC3 was developed

by Engineering and Computer Simulations, Inc, of Orlando under a contract

with RDECOM’s STTC. The game-based Army combat medic training program is now available Army-wide through AKO. The game-based Bilateral Negotiation Simulator that will be shipped out

by PEO STRI as a part of the GAA system package was originally developed by the STTC. In the game, Army squad leaders must learn the cultural rituals and behaviors of the Iraqi people before they can successfully negotiate for information and cooperation with Iraqi police officials. The STTC is also developing an Urban Sim City-like game for the Army School for Command Preparation that is designed to simulate the second-and third-order consequences of command decisions made by commanders in the field. Yet another gamebased trainer being developed at the STTC is one designed to train logistics operations.

Both TRADOC and the STTC are also investigating the application of persistent online gaming applications such as Second Life and Virtual Worlds. The STTC is also working with Forterra Systems On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment (OLIVE) to determine how this gaming technology might be employed for such training events as mission rehearsal and after-action reviews, as well as tactical team training.

“Gaming technology is going to be a big part of the Army’s future, addressing training gaps at the individual, squad, team, platoon and company level in a very short time without having to worry about having a lot of resources,” McManigal summed up. ms&t

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2/3/2009 4:55:23 PM

Educational INSTITuTIoN

the Royal Military college of canada Now more than just a college, RMC has become the Canadian Forces (CF) university. Even so, the core activity is to produce fit, ethical, educated, bilingual graduates prepared to respond to today’s challenges. MS&T Managing Editor (and ex-cadet) Jeff Loube explains.

L

ake Ontario in October – the swimming season is long over; beaches have been closed since Labour Day. The water is assuming its winter blackness. It is 0730. Kingston’s old Fort Henry, on the heights, looks across Navy Bay onto Canada’s Royal Military College, where 500 cadets, the entire third and fourth year classes, are on a pier, dressed for swimming. Their task is to swim from the pier to the centre of the bay, round the buoy and swim back – about 400 yards, the equivalent of swimming across the bay.

Led by Cadet Wing Commander Jacklyn Power, the swimming teams begin to enter the water, some swimmers wearing lifejackets. It was all over by 0950 when the last team climbed back on to the pier, and this Wednesday morning military training event was over, and Cadets could go back to classes. 0615 to 1015 every Wednesday morning is dedicated to professional military training. This was 18

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the first year for this group event; in past years it was a 10 km march.

BGen Tom Lawson, Commandant, (and class of 1979), explained that this confidence building event was a continuation of the 130 year experiment that is the RMC. RMC has always reflected the needs of Canadian society and the Canadian military and now, he says, the climate is again different. Canada is engaged “in a war in which we have lost sons and daughters” (Canada has lost over 100 soldiers in Afghanistan, proportionately more than any other nation).

The college has refocused on leadership skills and the development of officers but he cautions “we can only do a certain amount before we affect the integrity of the degree”. His goals are to produce an officer who is a fit, ethical, and mentally agile leader, who is bilingual, and who has been prepared academically to respond to the challenge of complex problems.

Above RMC first-year officer cadets perform a march past during the 2008 Badging Parade.

Image credit: The Royal Military College of Canada.

Athletics and physical fitness are stressed. Scheduled intramural sports activities have been doubled to twice a week, and there are three periods a week of Physical Education – by graduation cadets will have been exposed to 25 carry over sports. But that is not all, cadets must measure up to an RMC standard of fitness that far exceeds that of the Canadian Forces, and testing is not a “one-shot” effort. Cadets are tested three times a year and they must pass at least twice to achieve the “passing” level of fitness. This frequency of testing encourages the maintenance and development of physical fitness and allows staff to monitor performance. Cadets

displaying exceptional performance are rewarded and those at the other extreme are also rewarded, but in a different way – a supplementary training programme.

The structured physical training regimen is designed to improve physical fitness, improve self-confidence, and provide guidance on exercise techniques and proper nutrition.

According to Lawson, about 10% of the cadets do not pass the test. “We used to just watch the failures, and consider releasing them if they didn’t pass”. He explained that now, for the entire time they have not passed the test, they show up at the gym at 0615, 4 days a week to focus on general fitness exercises geared to passing the college fitness test, and the fifth day to learn about nutrition because many of those not achieving the fitness standards are overweight. Every three weeks they are retested, and every three weeks thereafter. This year, about two months after the initial test, about 48 cadets were still participating in the programme, and some may continue to do so until the end of the year. In the past, cadets could be released for failing to achieve the college fitness level. Now, as long as they

Third and forth-year cadets during the confidence swim.

Image credit: The Royal Military College of Canada.

meet the CF fitness levels, they may still graduate, but in their service uniform and not as a “redcoat”. After all, they may still be achieving the other three pillars – military, bilingual and academic.

When MS&T last wrote about RMC - in 2001 - we were told that the cadet wing badly needed redirection. The military pillar needed strengthening. Well, there have been changes. Most significantly, Lawson says the overall climate has evolved, and he is heartened by the changes they have made, and in particular, giving back ownership to the fourth year cadets.

“We have given a lot of ownership back to the fourth year cadets, and they have been responding tremendously,” Lawson said. “There is less of saying what you must do, but rather the Director of Cadets giving left and right arcs of fire.”

The programme is supercharged.

Cadets have little time to waste in sleeping in. The Cadet Wing Senior, previously framed as a mentor, is now termed the Cadet Wing Commander – commander meaning ownership. And this ownership is true throughout the cadet wing command hierarchy and the entire fourth year. Lawson says “this is the last place they can make mistakes for free – and there have been mistakes, but we correct and continue.” Squadron commanders (regular force captains) have become

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Educational Institution

The Royal Military College (RMC) of Canada RMC is a unit of the Canadian Defence Academy (CDA). Other units include the Royal Military College Saint-Jean, the Non-Commissioned Member Professional Development Centre and the Canadian Forces Management Development School, all located on Campus Fort Saint-Jean (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec), the Canadian Forces College (Toronto), and the Canadian Forces Language School, (Gatineau, Quebec).

The Royal Military College was founded in 1874 on the site of a Royal Navy base built to protect the town of Kingston, Ontario during the War of 1812 with the Americans.

Queen Victoria conferred the title “Royal” in 1878 and the first class graduated on 2 July 1880. After 1919, Canadians staffed RMC, the first Canadian commandant being Maj-Gen Sir Archibald Macdonnell. RMC closed in 1942 but was reopened in 1948 as one of the tri-service Canadian Service Colleges (CSC). From 1954 the Regular Officers Training Plan (ROTP) required all CSC graduates to take a regular commission, but a small Reserve Entry was re-established in 1961.

“The Royal Military College of Canada Degrees Act, 1959,” passed by the 25th Ontario Legislature and given Royal Assent on March 26, 1959, empowers the College to confer degrees in Arts, Science, and Engineering. From 1959, RMC granted degrees, and graduate courses were added in 1965. In fall 2007, the federal government reopened the military college at SaintJean, which had been closed in 1995.

The CDA was created 1 April 2002 in response to the need for a revitalized professional development program for all ranks to meet the challenges of the current security environment. Two resulting reports in particular, Canadian Officership in the 21st Century, and NCM Corps 2020, identified the need for a robust and comprehensive approach to Canadian Forces Professional Development. RMC is at the centre of this approach.

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Above and left Approximately 265 first-year officer cadets took part in the traditional obstacle course competition last October.

Image credit: The Royal Military College of Canada.

mentors, providing the adult oversight to the cadet leadership in the day-today business of learning and practicing leadership. The most visible display of ownership is the Monday morning muster parade, conducted entirely by the cadets, and, of course, in both official languages.

The goal of the language programme is that all cadets graduate bilingual in English and French and that goal is largely met. Lawson states “Our language department is fantastic. We are successful to 97%. Just about everybody, even the young farm boys from Alberta and Saskatchewan who have never spoken French in their lives, depart as bilingual to Federal Government Public Service standards.”

As one might expect, all degree programmes, in Arts, Science and Engineering are available in both English and French. Programmes have been selected to provide the best value to both future officers and the Canadian Forces. Faculty are one quarter serving military officers, and a further quarter to a third has previous military experience. BGen Lawson is proud to say that he taught in the elec-

trical engineering faculty at one stage in his career, and that today he still teaches one course in electrical engineering – something that he says, gives him the opportunity to interact with cadets on a regular basis. Last year, 215 0f the 230 graduating cadets (about 20% of the Forces annual officer intake), completed an exit interview and, Lawson says, that they rated the dedication of the faculty as “amazing”.

But the college is far more than the 1000 undergraduate ‘red coats’ (as Lawson called them). The college has become the intellectual centre of the Canadian Forces and as some say, the CF University. There is a thriving graduate programme. Currently, RMC is the largest single provider of postgraduate study to the Canadian Forces; roughly one third of the College’s graduates being masters or doctorates.

The Division of Graduate Studies and Research provides advanced degree programs and professional development for postgraduate students in key areas of engineering, humanities, social sciences and science; conducts research that sustains degree programs, and supports the Canadian Forces. Graduate programmes are open to all members of the Canadian Forces (commissioned

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and non commissioned, regular and reserves) and to civilians, as well. RMC has a high rate of funded research, ranking near the top of Canada’s small universities for research funding per faculty member.

There is also a clear requirement to be able to provide access to professional development programmes to members of the military community, wherever they may be. Michael Hennessy, Dean of Continuing Studies, states “We have approximately 1100 students enrolled in a distance undergraduate degree programme, most are serving CF members or spouses of members but there are also a number of civilians working for other government departments enrolled.”

Hennessy notes that there are about 350 enrolled in distributed graduate programs that are administered through his office. His faculty also facilitates other graduate programmes such as those at the Canadian Forces College. His division runs about 320 distance courses a year almost evenly split between regular academic degree courses and OPME (Officer Professional Military Education) courses.

The OPME courses are university level courses and may be applied to a degree program that RMC or other universities run. He explained, “RMC is part of the 11-university member Canadian Virtual University (CVU) which gives our students access to a number of other courses and university degree programs”. There are about 5000 OPME registrations per year. For OPME, undergraduate, and graduate

Ocdt Power (left) escorts the Commander of RMC, Brigadier-General Tom Lawson during the Badging Parade.

Image credit: The Royal Military College of Canada.

degree studies, instruction is done through a variety of means from purely distance self-contained study packets, to inter-active on-line courses and face-to-face classroom teaching.

“We have also undertaken a number of initiatives to increase educational opportunities for members of the CF community, by developing special onsite offerings for some Commands, and even on-site instruction in current areas of operations, like Afghanistan” Hennessy added.

The climate has changed, the College has reinvented itself, roles have expanded, and the culture has evolved.

Lawson’s “130 year old experiment” is arguably meeting its goals to produce an officer who is a fit, ethical, and mentally agile leader, who is bilingual, and who has been prepared academically to respond to the challenge of complex operations.

In 1886, Sir Charles Tupper reported to Sir Adolphe Caron, Minister of Militia: “I regard the Canadian Military College as one of the best of its class in the world.

The training and results are in every way of a high order, and the Americans themselves, I understand, say better than at West Point.”

In 2009, we can say that little has changed. ms&t

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TECHNOLOGY CENTRE

FSI have recently demonstrated a detailed Vital X database of Las Vegas.

Photo credit: FlightSafety International.

Centers of Simulation Excellence – the Southwest US There’s S&T gold in them thar’ hills, says Rick Adams as he reveals some nuggets.

T

he American Southwest evokes images of vast plains, sparsely dotted with cowboys, longhorns, and oil wells, weather ranging from hot to hotter, and the occasional excitement of a two-stepping tornado. What most of the world outside the simulation community may not realize is that the area bracketed by Interstate highways 40, 10, and 35 is something of a “Training Triangle” with a Stetson hat full of highly regarded research, production, and services capabilities.

Across Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, you’ll find major aerospace players Bell Helicopter, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon... hightempo training centers at Tinker AFB and Fort Hood... one-of-a-kind development sites at Kirtland AFB and the AFRL... plus a plethora of niche companies who do a few things very well.

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Oklahoma Starting at the northwest vertex of the triangle, FlightSafety International Simulation headquarters are in Broken Arrow, a suburb of Tulsa. Industry veterans may recall FSI buying what were originally Atkins & Merrill in 1978, United Airlines Services in ‘88 (C-5 and other aircrew training programs), and McDonnell Douglas’ Vital visual systems unit in St. Louis in ‘93. Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway has owned FSI for the past dozen years.

Notable FSI military programs include the US Air Force Special Operations Command HC-130P Weapons System Trainers, the Air Force/ Navy Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) for Raytheon, 20 C-17 weapon systems trainers, helicopter trainers for CSC’s US Army Flight School XXI, the first tilt-rotor simulators (Air Force CV-22 and Marine

Corps MV-22 Osprey), and sims for the USMC’s new AH-1Z Cobra and UH-1Y Huey.

One recent development: FSI demonstrated a Vital X database of Las Vegas with 151,241 polygons, 860 light points, 280,000 buildings, a multi-runway airport, a highly detailed Vegas Strip, and 452 moving models as part of an urban training scenario for their reconfigurable Mobile Crew Tactics Trainer.

Boeing Aircraft Operation’s training headquarters is just down the road in Oklahoma City, from which they support the USAF C-17 aircrew training system at nearby Altus AFB, the main site of nine (expected to expand to 12 worldwide by next year).

Among the training specialists in the “Sooner” state is 7-year-old CymStar (Broken Arrow), which has performed complex modifications for several ATS programs – including glass cockpit concurrency upgrades for the KC-135 Pacer Craig program and the C-141 – as well as the Marine Corps Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV) training systems.

Advanced Systems Technology in Lawton (near Fort Sill) supports battle staff training exercises and wargames.

AMI Instruments (Broken Arrow), a unit of L-3 Link Simulation & Training, is a leading manufacturer of simulated aircraft cockpits and electro-mechanical assemblies for simulators.

Texas Link Simulation & Training, the primary legacy of the company that pioneered the 80-year-old flight simulation business, is headquartered in Arlington, just down the street from the under-construction Dallas Cowboys stadium. Their traditional strength has been simulators and services for major fixed-wing platforms, among them the B-2 stealth bomber, C27J, E-3 Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS), F-16, F/A-18, F-22, and P-3. In recent years they’ve added the US Army’s Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (AVCATT) program and reconfigurable devices for Flight School XXI. Link has also carved out a leadership role in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) mission training with its Predator

program. “Demand for UAS training is going up exponentially,” says Link vice president Frank Delisle. Predator trainers at Creech AFB, Nevada, are now being upgraded with Link’s HD World visual/ sensor simulation urban environment.

HD World, which combines high definition databases, image generation systems, and physics-based processing technology, was a key factor in winning a $68.2 million contract to develop up to 20 Block 40/42 and 50/52 simulators for the Air Force’s F-16 Mission Training Center (MTC) program. Delisle says the visual package will initially provide 20/40 acuity “jaw-dropping” displays, but will be designed to integrate 20/20 projectors (for which prototypes have been tested in Link’s lab for over six months).

Other training houses in the Dallas/ Fort Worth “Metroplex” include RSI, originally Redifun, an innovative PC-based visual systems supplier in Euless. They’re upgrading USAF T-1A simulators with 220 x 45 CrossView front-projected collimated optical displays, liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) projectors, and their new Raster XT/64 image generator. Also in Euless – just south of DFW International Airport – ACS Hydraulics is cultivating a reputation for high-quality refurbishment of simulator motion legs. Camber Corporation’s Sensor Systems division in Dallas (originally Merit) was selected recently

by Bell to provide radar simulation systems terrain servers for CV-22 flight training devices, by Rockwell Collins for radar and IFF simulation systems for US Navy E-2D Advanced Hawkeye tactics training devices, and by NAVAIR for 29 visual, radar, and sensor databases for P-3 trainers. Need mil-spec “new surplus” parts?

Try Cade Technologies in Frisco.

The area around the state capital has a penchant for glass making. FSI recently acquired the former Glass Mountain Optics (Austin), and is launching a new 60-degree vertical glass cross-cockpit display optical system for helicopter and other large vertical field of view applications. Glass Mountain founder Don Conklin says the design uses a lightweight composite glass mirror technology that “eliminates the distortion inherent in traditional film mirror systems.” The FSI design claims to eliminate user frustration over the distortion “nuisance” of mylar-based large vertical FOV systems, plus the cost benefit of “no re-skins.”

LCoS projector weights of 20-40 pounds,

Link’s HD World can incorporate thousands of entities into a simulation scenario.

outgrowth of Project 2851. The SDBF’s primary function is collection and redistribution of database assets such as culture/ feature data, terrain data, phototexture data, geo-referenced imagery and 3-D models. Data has been provided – at no cost – to the B-1 and B-52 programs, the 58th Training Squadron Aircrew Training and Rehearsal Support (ATARS), Special Operations Command, NAVAIR, Redstone Arsenal, and the Army’s TEC Imaging Office (TIO).

Also at Kirtland, Lockheed Martin supports the billion-dollar Special Operations and Air Force Rescue aircrews with its Aircrew Training and Rehearsal Support (ATARS II) program, which is comprised of pilot and aircrew schoolhouse training for the AC-130H Spectre, MC-130 Combat Talon, MC-130P Combat Shadow, HH-60G Pave Hawk and CV-22 Osprey.

Image credit: L-3 Link Simulation & Training.

Arizona compared with 400-pound CRTs, should enable the glass display to be used with new electric motion platforms.

Displays & Optical Technologies in Round Rock produces precision-polished mirrors – from flat radii to “radically bent” mirrors of 100 x 50 degrees. Recent experiments achieved an aperture-tothickness ratio as high as 140:1 (6:1 is used for “normal” optical processes), and plans to test to greater than 200:1.

Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio is involved with a diverse range of projects, among them gamebased training for aircraft mechanics for the USAF Air Mobility Command, a UK AWACS Mission Crew Training System, an AWACS Undergraduate Air Battle Manager Training System, and a prototype platform for developing, analyzing, and researching the behaviors and actions of individuals and crowds.

In Houston, home of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, USM fabricates custom scale models, including a full-size mockup of the Space Shuttle crew compartment.

For Boeing and Link, they designed and fabricated a suite of F/A-22 mockups, including landing gear maintenance and pilot cockpit egress trainers.

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Warfighter Research Readiness Division Human Effectiveness Directorate in Mesa, Arizona (wow, that’s a mouthful) has long been an epicenter of leading-edge developments for human performance-oriented simulation and training. Areas of expertise have included perceptual and optical assessment of visual systems, including helmet-mounted and other deployable displays, rapid database and scenario development, tools and metrics for integrating live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) training exercise environments, and research on using games as learning environments.

By 2011, however, Mesa is expected to lose the Human Effectiveness Directorate – its programs will be moving to join similar divisions at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio.

VirTra Systems, Phoenix, produces firearms training systems for military and law enforcement customers, including “the world’s first firearms training system that includes a completely immersive, 360degree environment, incorporating the realistic sensations of sight, touch, sound, and smell.” The IVR 360 includes precision-tracking for up to six trainees, up to 24 in reconfigurable marksmanship mode, and is convoy-capable as well. ms&t

New Mexico Kirtland AFB, nestled between the Sandia and Manzano mountain ranges in southeast Albuquerque, is home to the Simulator Database Facility (SDBF), an

• To learn more about simulation and training resources in the American Southwest and around the world, check out www.halldale-directories.com.

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Technology APPLICATION

Robotic Spinout: embedded Training FCS robotic vehicle spinouts and their embedded training strategy are both on schedule for 2011 deployment. Chuck Weirauch reports.

W

hile the multi-faceted Future Combat System (FCS) will certainly help the US Army meet the challenges of unconventional warfare in 2015, the Army is accelerating the development of some FCS robotic elements as a part of its Spinout 1 initiative to help meet those challenges sooner. As a result, training is being spun up early as well.

Spinout 1 Robots The need to provide US Army infantry units with their own means of advanced unmanned reconnaissance has been a major factor in accelerating the development of two FCS robotic vehicles. They are the Block 1 Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV) and the Class I Block 0 Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV), both of which will be fielded along with other Spinout 1 elements four years in advance of the full FCS Infantry Combat Brigade deployment.

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Both Spinout 1 vehicles are secondgeneration robots derived from iRobot’s first-generation PackBot and the gasoline-powered Micro Air Vehicle (gMAV) originally developed by Honeywell for the Defense Advanced Research Products Agency (DARPA) and then transitioned to the FCS program. More than 2,000 man-portable tracked PackBots have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the ducted-fan gMAV that flys like a helicopter has recently been deployed to Iraq with the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the Pennsylvania National Guard and the 2/25th Stryker Brigade.

In addition to the “lessons learned” information gained in the field from the original designs’ performance, the second-generation variants of these vehicles have undergone preliminary field testing and evaluation by soldiers of the Army’s Evaluation Task Force (AETF) at Fort Bliss, Texas. Both the second-generation

The FCS Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV) undergoing tests at Ft. Bliss, Texas.

Image credit: US Army.

Spinout 1 vehicles and the final, thirdgeneration FCS robots will benefit from the battlefield lessons learned and AETF testing in terms of enhanced capabilities, particularly in their improved design and performance, as well as expanded sensor systems.

This summer, the second-generation spybots will undergo a second round of technical field tests. These tests will be followed by design and production reviews and further evaluation that will lead to their low-rate production. The first fielding of the Block 1 SUGV and UAV to Army infantry brigade combat teams will take place in 2011 as a part of the FCS Spinout 1 program effort.

The FCS program has recently been subjected to a series of significant

budget cuts and is undergoing further scrutiny. However, Army officials felt the program could be sustained if some technologies being developed for it could be brought forward into the field earlier than the initial 2015 timeline via Spinout initiatives, while providing important assets to the current Army at the same time.

The Block 1 SUGV and UAV are particularly important to smaller infantry units because they both provide reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities that those units often do not have available. They also feature enhanced hardware and capabilities expanded beyond that of their original, first-generation predecessors.

“The main goal here is for us to get a small robot that can go to the infantry squad, because right now they don’t have that reconnaissance information that they need,” said Lt. Col. Steve Noe, Program Manager for FCS Unmanned Ground Vehicles.

“The SUGV will provide platoon levels with better situational awareness, with its sensor data delivered over the FCS network and delivered to the guys who really need to look at it.”

According to Lt. Col. Wayne Keller, FCS Program Manager for Unmanned Aerial Systems, the 20-pound Block 1 UAV will provide a hover-and-stare capability on a target or building in urban areas that require constant surveillance, just as the gMAV does, but will have improved sensors, less weight and longer on-station capability. Orbiting unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) just can’t provide this kind of capability, he explained.

In addition to the two robotic vehicles, the Spinout 1 includes Unattended Ground Sensors (UGS), both Urban and Tactical, the new missile Non-Line-ofSight Launch System (NLOS-LS) and the NLOS-Cannon (NLOS-C), which the first of eight FCS Manned Ground Vehicles (MGVs) and B Kits, which are the first pieces of FCS software and related equipment.

Other unmanned ground vehicles include three variants of the Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment Vehicle (MULE), which is currently under development by Lockheed Martin and not a part of the Spinout 1 effort. The variants include the MULE-T for the transport of equipment and supplies,

the MULE-CM to detect and neutralize anti-tank mines and the ARV-A-L armed vehicle. All of these variants will have the Autonomous Navigation System (ANS) that will enable them to conduct semiautonomous navigation. An additional unmanned aerial vehicle is the Class IV Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), which is the Fire Scout under development by Northrup Grumman.

Along with this equipment, the 2015 FCS Infantry Brigade Combat Team will field with the seven other MGV variants. Linking all FCS component sensor and communications data together is the Future Brigade Combat Integrated Network.

The Training Strategy A key element of the FCS program is embedded training, provided to soldiers in the form of Training Support Packages (TSPs) onboard FCS vehicles and delivered via the FCS network. The network will also provide reachback capability for TSP upgrades and updates. FCS contractor team members have and will develop and provide the TSPs for the program. iRobot and Honeywell are doing so for their respective vehicles.

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Technology Application

“The real advantage of embedded training is when soldiers are deployed,” said John Simons, Program Manager for the Future Force-Simulation (FF-S) division of the Army’s Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI), which is the service’s co-lead for the FCS Training IPT. “So now they will have training available wherever they are located. The way we do it today with stand-alone training systems, we could achieve similar types of results, but not in a deployed mode. It’s difficult to move sims to deployment and make then available there. Having that training available to the soldier on the platform is very key.”

The TSPs are also developed for use as classroom courseware. The TSPs for the Spinout 1 SUGV and UAVs are currently being employed for training AETF instructors and soldiers at Ft. Bliss as a part of classroom instruction. The AETF curricula include hands-on vehicle demonstration and training delivered after the classroom sessions.

According to Gordon Sayre, SAIC Lead for the FCS Training IPT, 33 TSPs for the Spinout 1 systems, for both individual and collective training, have already been delivered or prototyped so far. All of the TSPs developed for the Spinout 1 are also currently available to soldiers through the Army Knowledge Online (AKO) portal. These TSPs will be upgraded from the “lessons learned” during deployments of the first-generation PackBots and gMAVs and the testing of the second-generation Spinout 1 robots at Ft. Bliss, as well as for hardware and software changes that will take place on the systems that are being ‘spun out” to the infantry brigade teams, Sayre said.

The TSPs for the Spinout 1 and third-generation FCS vehicles will also employ some of the latest interactive multimedia instruction (IMI) technologies for learning, including simulation and 3D graphics, Sayre explained. The effectiveness of this approach was borne out recently when one group of AETF soldiers training to operate the SUGV at Ft. Bliss received a standard classroom PowerPoint-based instruction class, while another group was given the IMIbased TSP with no classroom time. Then both groups received infield orientation with the vehicle.

The second group reduced its total 26

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The gMAV can be employed for recon and surveillance in urban areas.

Image credit: US Army.

training time by 50 percent, while providing the same level of performance as the classroom group, Sayre pointed out. So the IMI approach not only reduces training time, but also seems to support the effectiveness of the FCS TSP approach for embedded training.

Training challenges While crews on manned FCS vehicles will be able to access TSPs through onboard crew compartment man-machine interface screens while deployed, providing such built-in instruction systems onboard the much smaller SUGV and UAV could prove to be a challenge. The Spinout 1 robots will not have this capability, but it may prove to be possible to provide it for the third-generation FCS variants. At least, that’s the goal.

Meanwhile, the TSPs can be used for instruction on other computer devices.

Also, a sensor with a MILES capability will be added to the Spinout 1 SUGV for live training exercises.

“The purpose of embedded training on the program is to develop an embedded LVC training capability for leaders as well as individuals and crews,” Sayre said.

“The intent is to make sure that the soldier interface to the system is where the embedded training would take place. In the case of the SUGV, that training would probably take place in the common controller. Training on the SUGV itself would probably not be virtual or constructive, but live, which is the MILES system.”

Training for the FCS UAV, and presumably for the upcoming MULE UGVs would presumably also be based in the hand-held controller interface. According to Major Greg Dellert, FCS Assistant Program Manager for the gMAV and its successors, the controller for the gMAV is also a training device that provides a flight simulation capability.

However, providing all of the TSP content, including mission rehearsal scenarios, via the third-generation FCS robot vehicle controllers more than likely won’t be possible because the controllers by themselves won’t have the capacity to store and generate training scenario images, said Chuck Brookwood, FCS Training IPT Lead. One solution to this problem would be to tether the robotic vehicles to MGVs, Brookwood said.

Since at least some of the FCS unmanned vehicles will have the capability to be operated from within the MGVs, this seems like a logical approach. Soldiers would be able to view the appropriate TSPs via the MGV operator interface screens in training mode.

These interfaces will provide MGV training TSPs as well, since the FCS TSPs will employ the FCS operational software.

Employing the MGV crew interface to function as a networked reconfigurable full task trainer for unmanned vehicle training also fits into the FCS intent of not having any separate special training devices, Sayre pointed out.

“We are sure that we are going to need simulations for the UAV,” Brookwood said. “We don’t want to deploy it without some way to simulate it. We are doing a task analysis right now to identify the optimal method to train soldiers. We will also provide a model for the SUGV in case that is necessary.”

“The technology of embedded training is not new,” Simons summed up.

“We understand that. It’s taking that and putting it on the platform that’s the tough part, integrating that embedded training as a part of the operational system. So it’s not so much the technology as the integration that’s the true challenge with what we are trying to achieve.” ms&t

Editor’s Note MS&T will provide training updates on the other unmanned FCS vehicles, the Fire Scout UAS and the MULE variants, in a future article.

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Day Long Tutorial Sessions NATO Tutorial: High Level Architecture (HLA) Project Management/Procurement ETSA Tutorial: Modelling, Simulation & Training for Beginners ETSA Rail Training & Simulation seminar sessions

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TechNoloGy APPLICATION

Different exercises showed the potential value of networked simulators/simulation systems for operations.

Image credit: IABG.

Birds of a Feather Simulations for training and for decision support have a lot of similarities – or so it should seem. Hans-Georg Konert asks the question – how do they go together?

T

he principle “train as you fight and fight as you train” has been stated over and over again and already indicates that Training Simulation (TS) and Decision Support Simulation (DSS) should go hand in hand. Is that the answer to the question - how do they go together? Maybe. But we all know that the world of Modelling & Simulation (M&S) is not that simple.

This article argues in favour of a similarity between simulators and simulation systems for training and DS, provides information about the concepts of the German Bundeswehr and supporting industry, gives some examples of where they already do go hand in hand, and addresses problem areas.

What is “Decision Support”?

It is a confusing name because it would be completely wrong to limit the development of applications to only a few decisions. Generally speaking, Decision 28

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support is possible on all levels and for all branches during all phases of the preparation, execution and review of operations.

Decision support can support situation analysis, planning, decision-making and control of operations. Simulation is only one of the potential tools for decision support and probably the most complicated one. But it is definitely the best one for analyzing complex interdependencies related to forces, means, time, space and procedures.

Training Simulation and Decision Support Simulation - Together Training and real operations are tightly interlinked. Training at home prepares contingents for the complete operational spectrum and is followed by specific, mission-oriented, operational planning and decision-making. Pre-deployment training, the planning and rehearsal which occur immediately before the

execution of missions, are further steps before the execution itself and finally the after-action review (AAR)/missioncontrol processes. All this leads to lessons learnt which are incorporated into training for repeat missions or training of new contingents: Who can imagine commanders, staffs or troops of different nations switching over and over again from one tool to another during this complex sequence of processes in different organizations at different levels? Training simulation and decision support simulation must be the same or at least similar to ensure continuity.

Multiple examples from the past have demonstrated that TS, classical Operation Research (OR), Concept Development and Experimentation (CD&E) and procurement use similar simulations.

And we all know about the similarity of basic simulation infrastructures and services, the identical representation of objects close to reality, common computer-generated force (CGF) technologies or the closeness of databases, which are sometimes only manipulated to avoid security problems.

Which nation can afford to pay all the expenses for separate simulations for training and decision support to achieve similar outcomes? Who can pay for a Verification, Validation, and Accreditation (VV&A) bureaucracy instead of using training for VV&A and customer acceptance? Who wants to spend all the additional time on specific DS system training to get commanders, staffs and troops used to it and to trust it? One can hardly imagine maintaining different industrial resources for both application areas!

But let’s have a look at the Bundeswehr.

German Bundeswehr According to the Chief of Staff German Armed Forces, M&S has already firmly established itself as an integral part of training and exercises, especially for preand post-deployment activities. Without M&S, optimum preparation of German and multinational contingents for missions abroad can no longer be ensured under the given framework conditions.

Overarching concepts for M&S address the need for combined efforts, for reuse and co-development in all areas of M&S. As far as possible these simulations are to be embedded in real systems or need to be integrated into C4I systems and must enable network centric warfare. The IT Director of the German MOD requires a Bundeswehr-wide network of simulation systems which can and will be expanded by real command, control and information systems, into which the test environments of industry and the research community can be integrated as well.

Specific user requirements are now required to provide appropriate and improved DS. The Bundeswehr Transformation Centre therefore intends to prepare a comprehensive catalogue of support requests together with the armed services/organizational areas and the German elements at multinational headquarters. A Bundeswehr concept for the evaluation and release of models and simulation systems is being drafted. A Bundeswehr-wide Model Management System as part of the VV&A and quality assurance efforts is being established.

So the framework has been set for the Bundeswehr. What about the other services?

German Airforce The MOD Airforce Staff believes supporting simulation is an essential basis for preparing exercises and operations and its significance will increase even further.

Efforts are ongoing, supported, for example, by EADS, to further improve embedded simulation in flight for improved training. It will offer on-board, real-time virtual scenario simulation with a wide range of functions starting from cockpit stimulation, own simulated weapon systems up to threat analysis.

CGFs will portray multiple threats with realistic tactical behaviour and these CGFs are to be engaged by the aircrew with on-board simulated sensors and weapons. This comes very close to DS systems for the pilot.

Different exercises, such as the “Virtual Electronic Warfare Live Training Exercise” (VIRTEL), showed the operational application potential of networked simulation systems and the broad support function that simulation has for operations. In particular it was the inter-

The embedded simulator System Integrierte Ausbildungs Mittel (SIAM) provides the opportunity for mission rehearsal, mission recording and DS functions.

Image credit: RDE/KMW.

action between simulation systems and simulators with real systems that showed an additional benefit.

Another example is the Surface-toAir Missile Operations Centre (SAMOC), which supports multinational air defence forces. From the start, training simulation has become an integral part of the system. This simulation can also be used to plan force and engagement operations.

The German Airforce has used constructive simulation models for decades for staff training and exercises. GUPPIS 2010 will integrate a new capability for air simulation. Perhaps some of these functions will be used as planning tools in the future, probably coordinated within NATO and integrated into C4I systems like the Integrated Command and Control (ICC) system.

German Navy Simulation has a crucial role to play in training in the German Navy. Simulator training offers type-specific system training under realistic conditions, for example for sensors, fire control systems, electronics and naval technology. Simulators also serve procedural training and the training of analysis methods. Tactical training simulators train the planning and conduct of operations for all naval warfare assets. Multiple crew trainer

simulation exercises are being carried out in support of the operational training of fleet units.

According to the IT Director, network surveys are being carried out for the Navy to interconnect not only shorebased trainers but also pier-based and sea-based units in the future.

All this comes very close to DS, but so far no DS simulation systems are being reported. It seems, however, that the Navy is on its way to offering simulation for DS, be it embedded within the units, integrated into the C4I Systems of Naval headquarters or as a reach back capability using the tactical training simulation centres.

German Army According to the Army Office, mission support is becoming an increasingly significant area for M&S. Surveys at Kunduz, Afghanistan have shown the practical use and potential of an OR Cell for ISAF. Simple, practical tools are required, managed by knowledgeable on-site experts.

A reach back capability is seen as a must.

Concepts for DS are under development.

Given the limited actual missions, the focus is on the tactical level.

The potential of simulations for DS is acknowledged in principle, especially as part of the war-gaming method. But to provide practicable simulation tools for DS is seen as one of the greatest challenges for the future, especially human behaviour modelling. The expectations are high and the limitations are great.

If simulations are used for DS an exact knowledge of the techniques used is MS&T MAGAZINE • ISSUE 1/2009

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required. Simulations for DS are expected to meet the highest VV&A standards. There is a reluctance to allow CGFs, aggregated models or closed simulations. All this will make it quite difficult to develop and run DS simulations in theatre in the near future. At the moment the wide spectrum of existing land simulation systems does not yet meet requirements. The ambitious “Simulation System Army Operations” programme, which was intended to link constructive training simulation with DS simulation, was stopped in 2002. At the time it was felt to be over-ambitious.

Meanwhile, for some embedded live and virtual and simulation systems training and DS systems do already go hand in hand.

In addition to the training mode, the embedded simulator “System Integrierte Ausbildungs Mittel (SIAM)” for the PUMA from RDE/ KMW provides the opportunity for mission rehearsal, mission recording or AAR. DS functions such as virtual sights, distance determination, threat analysis etc. will be possible in the future.

The VIPOR system from EADS/DORNIER is used by the Special Forces for mission planning and rehearsal. And there is more going within the responsibility of the different branches, for example for artillery, transmission, logistics etc.

Summary DS will become increasingly important for the German Armed Forces. While the value of training simulation in preparation of operations is accepted within the Bundeswehr, specific simulation systems for DS are still the exception. The Bundeswehr’s M&S concept sets the stage for a common approach for training simulations and decision support9:45 simulations. are good W08-MP advert:Layout 1 1/28/09 AM Page There 1 examples proving the value and feasibility of co-development or

Live, virtual and constructive can and will be linked for the German Army as well.

Image credit: IABG.

even identity of simulators and simulations for training and decision support. So let’s ensure the two types of simulation do go together! ms&t

About the Author Hans-Georg Konert, COL (ret.) German Army, CEO of KONEKTA CONSULTING GmbH, has 15 years of experience in M&S. Before his retirement in 2006 he was head of the MS&T branch of the Heeresamt (German Army Office) and ACOS G7 Training and Exercises at HQ NRDC-Spain, Valencia.

Mission Planning From the Strategic to the Tactical 3rd & 4th June 2009, Copthorne Tara Hotel, London, UK Hear a series of presentations from: • Colonel Paul Hastert, Deputy Director of ISR Innovation, US Air Force • Colonel Joseph Fischetti, Commander, 69th ADA Brigade, US Army • Diego Ruiz Palmer, Head of Planning Section, Operations Division, NATO HQ • Lieutenant Colonel Dean Wild, System Manager – Aviation Mission Planning Systems, Australian Defence Force • Lieutenant Colonel Ian Woodbridge, Secretary of the Deployable Forces Coordination Group, NATO SHAPE • Lieutenant Colonel Mark Brandt, Deputy Dean of Academics, The NATO School • Major Colin Ramsay, S02 J5 Plans, 16 Air Assault Brigade, Ministry of Defence, UK • George Onslow, Scientific Advisor (HW), RAF Air Warfare Centre and UK Joint Force Air Component Headquarters

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3

IITSEC

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SHOW REPORT

VirtuSphere showcased their new individual training platform at this year’s show.

Image credit: W Ullrich.

zational “firewalls” to pursue display bids independent of Rockwell’s simulator manufacturing (former NLX) and image generator (former Evans & Sutherland) competencies. FlightSafety International is joining the display fray with a 60degree vertical field of view lightweight glass composite mirror from its acquisition of Glass Mountain Optics.

Games, Games, Games

Bigger Than Ever I/ITSEC 2008 was bigger than ever; the hall cavernous, and comfortable shoes an asset. MS&T Editors reflect.

T

here are several “constants” at IITSEC. One, it’s like an annual reunion with a large number of familiar faces (though some of the business cards may have changed).

Two, despite the dominance of the mega players, there is always a refreshing injection of small upstarts with dreams of a breakthrough idea. Three, four, five, and six – the same parking hassles, hospitality themes, International Drive, and convention center food.

On the other hand, press teams at Christie Digital and a handful of others are keeping up with digital technology – distributing their press releases, brochures, photos, and video files on a USB flash - an improvement on folders. And kudos go to the conference organizers for an ever-improving registration system.

Technology Trends Projector technologies and night vision goggle (NVG) stimulation are currently dominating the visual systems discussions – see “Night Scenes” in this issue – but databases are also a spirited arena.

While other projection system provid32

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ers demonstrated brightness, Rheinmetall Defence displayed darkness. The darkest spot on the I/ITSEC exhibition floor certainly was the darkroom on the Rheinmetall booth, showcasing the AVIOR® VisIR system. The projection system for night vision training impressed visitors, among them some American pilots who had brought along their own night vision gear.

There are also interesting developments in the cross-cockpit display market, long dominated by Seos. Barco is making a challenge with new mylarbased collimated displays, and has been selected on a USAF B-2 weapon systems trainer upgrade for L-3 Link Simulation & Training. Barco believes they can cut into the Seos customer base now that the UK company has been acquired by Rockwell Collins. Rockwell, meantime, is applying enhanced technology to reduce distortions, make the screen closer to true spherical shape, and produce performance “effectively similar to more expensive glass and acrylic mirrors,” according to executive consultant Owen Wynn. They’re also establishing organi-

The Serious Games Showcase and Challenge this year again occupied prime real estate in a foyer with lots of walk by traffic. Out of the dozen finalists showing off their games, there were four winners.

The Best Serious Game/ Small Business Game was Burn Center, a simulation of mass-scale casualty burn treatment.

Burn Center provides the immersive experience of a full-scale, chaotic triage situation and features an extensive resuscitation mode that follows patients over the course of 36 hours of treatment following a disaster event. Developed by 360Ed, Burn Center is current available online for doctors and nurses within the state of Florida.

The Peoples Choice went to Canadian Forces: Direct Action, a tactical first person shooter. CF:DA is a training tool used by soldiers and police to train and visualize operations in complex urban environments. Developed in conjunction with the Training Innovation Division of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center CF:DA is available to military, police and security agencies free of charge. For more information: http:// www.armyelearning.ca/cfda/ The Best Government Game award went to GeoCommander. Built by the U.S. Navy SPAWAR Systems Command, Program Executive Office, GeoCommander is a Serious Game solution addressing geo-location operator shortfalls and the accurate Geo Location of hostile forces.

Developed by Intelligence Gaming Inc., GeoCommander uses competitive gaming simulation technology to address the “How” and the “Why” in a challenging immersive learning environment.

Age of Ecology was awarded Best Student Game. The player acts as a regional planner to make as much money

as possible from agriculture, fishing, and industry, in a world subject to natural hazards, within a time limit, without creating an unsustainable environment.

On a randomly generated coastal landscape, players buy land, zone land use, and invest in the productive capacities of the land uses, and mitigate natural hazards.. Check out the students at www.gootproductions.com

Interservice The armed services take I/ITSEC as an opportunity to demonstrate their success stories. The Quality of Training Effectiveness Assessment – Operator Performance Laboratory at the US Navy’s NAVAIR Orlando Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) story stood out. The system featured a pilot wearing a clear plastic skull cap covered with white brain-wave sensors. The pilot’s brain wave activity and reaction times were recorded and displayed while he responded to realistic flight simulator scenarios. System developer NAWCTSD plans to use it to maximize the effectiveness of flight simulator time. The first production unit is scheduled to go into service in early 2009 at the Pensacola, FL flight training center.

The new Shadow UAS Crew Trainer made its debut at PEO STRI’s Combined Arms Tactical Trainers (PM CATT) exhibit. The trainer is unique providing individual and combined crew training.

PM CATT had by far the most training hardware at the show, with five other training devices on display, along with a Medical Simulation Training Center (MSTC) exhibit.

Both the US Joint Forces Command USJFCOM) and the US Air Force’s Training Product Group focussed on next-generation technologies. The JFCOM exhibit highlighted Joint Knowledge Online, the Future Immersive Training Environment (FITE), Individual Worn Virtual Reality and Facility Based Mixed Reality programmes and training systems. The Air Force exhibit showcased Air Force 2.0, billed as the Future of Air Force Learning. The next-generation online learning capability was described as the delivery connection to an immersive environment providing lifelong performance support, continuous learning and precision learning. Also displayed at this exhibit was the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)’s Real World Air Combat Environment

Show organisers reported that there were 539 exhibiting companies.

Image credit: W Ullrich.

RDECOM provided a strong emphasis on medical simulation at this year’s show as the driving force and organizer for three I/ITSEC Special Events on that subject. Presenters at these events issued a call to arms to the modeling, simulation and training industry to help both the military and civilian medical communities advance medical simulation.

Industry This clearly was the biggest I/ITSEC ever.

Show organisers report that there were 539 exhibiting companies. Here are a few exhibits that caught an editor’s eye.

The Australian Calytrix Training Systems demonstrated LVC Game which provides a fully bi-directional DIS/HLA gateway for connecting military training games like Virtual Battlespace 2 (VBS2) and Steel Beasts with each other, or into existing DIS and HLA defence environments like JSAF and JCATS. Calytrix also showcased the software-only radio/ intercom simulator Combat Net Radio Simulator (CNR-Sim).

Perhaps the biggest individual training platform showcased at I/ITSEC was Virtusphere, a 10-foot hollow sphere placed on a special platform that allows the sphere to rotate freely in any direction in accordance with the user’s steps. Virtusphere provides the dismounted user with life-like locomotion inside a virtual environment. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Dassault Aviation, France, Lockheed Martin and the Fort Lewis Madigan Army Medical Center have purchased Virtusphere prototypes.

Probably the smallest training device at I/ITSEC was to be found at the Chemring Defence stand. The credit card–sized circuit board technology–based Micro Pyro Card (MPC) has 11 pyrotechnic effects. Ignition is electrical without the need for electrical matches, thus allowing the truly spectacular simulation of single and multiple shots. The company also showed its new Macro Pyro Card (MaPyC), which can simulate the effects of hostile fire, booby traps and IED, among other things.

At the Presagis booth the French company HPC Project demonstrated the potential of its Wild System Technology.

HPC’s plug-and-play solution combines optimization algorithm software and high-performance hardware that dramatically accelerates application execution and frees up processing power.

A demonstration based on Presagis™ STAGE Scenario™ featured a complex simulation involving 10,000 systems, including entities, weapons, sensors and missions. “Wild Systems can optimize performance of this application, and others, enabling software to execute at rates 10 times greater than the norm,” stated Emmanuel Chiva from HPC projects.

Microsoft’s booth at I/ITSEC was twice the size of last year’s. “This is to show our commitment to industry,” explained Ed McCahill, Marketing Manager Microsoft ESP. “And we have a lot more to show, not only within ESP, but how ESP integrates within the other Microsoft technologies.” He also gave an outlook on ESP 2.0, which will extend the immersive experiences of mission rehearsal and skills training from warfighters in the air to warfighters on the ground. McCahill revealed that for version 3.0 of ESP, Microsoft will be expanding into indoor and avatar-centric simulations. Dave Boker, Senior Director of Business Development for ACES Studio at Microsoft said that Microsoft was not shipping any solutions, but looking for partners with exactly that expertise - to train them. “This is a strategic approach!

The more skills they have, the more understanding they have about ESP, the more likely they will base their solution on ESP,” Boker said. Unfortunately, on 22 Jan 09, Microsoft, citing the economic downturn, announced that development of ESP has been terminated and Aces Studios closed. Microsoft remains committed to the Flight Simulator franchise. ms&t MS&T MAGAZINE • ISSUE 1/2009

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WORLD NEWS & ANALySIS

Seen&Heard Edited by Fiona Greenyer.

For daily breaking S&T news - go to www.halldale.com.

Firing of a PATRIOT missile at NAMFI. Image credit: Luftwaffe/OFw Peter Müller.

MULTI-NATIONAL NATO FORCES EXERCISE JOINT GROUND AIR DEFENCE The annual live-firing exercise at the NATO Missile Firing Installation (NAMFI) on the Greek island of Crete is a highlight for NATO ground air defence units. This technical and tactical evaluation event is vital to ensure mission effectiveness of units assigned to international contingents. Tactical evaluations not only serve to qualify units for live firing but also to certify them for the NATO Response Force (NRF).

2008 was the first time the tactical firing was executed simultaneously by joint units of the German air force and army in a mix of weapon systems.

Major international support was pro34

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vided by combined forces from Slovenia and Hungary, which have been NATO Member States since 2004 and 1999 respectively. The multi-stage exercise lasted from September to November 2008, and consecutively involved about 800 German soldiers and 100 servicemen from the member forces in both the preparation and subsequent firing phase. Participating forces comprised three German PATRIOT Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) Wings, German Light Army Organic Shorad troops equipped with the OZELOT weapon system, servicemen of Slovenia’s 9th Air Defence Battalion (ROLAND) and Hungarian sol-

diers of 12th SAM Regiment providing the Mistral weapon system.

The first part of the tri-national evaluation training was hosted by SAM Wing 1 and carried out at the site of 26th SAM Battalion in northern Germany. After three weeks of intensive training the troops achieved operational readiness.

The Hungarian SAM Wing Commander Brig Gen Laszlo Vaga was satisfied with the overall performance demonstrated by the troops when he visited the site.

Based on a tremendous logistical effort provided by forward commands, three PATRIOT batteries of German SAM Wing 2 started preparations for the live firing in Crete. Protected by ROLAND and MISTRAL air defence cover, the PATRIOT crews set up the air defence cluster. The entire engagement process of the live firing was controlled by the Information and Coordination Centre (ICC). During two days of live firing, five STINGER and 12 PATRIOT missiles successfully intercepted the drones.

Exercise activities at NAMFI were concluded by Anti-Tactical Ballistic Missile (ATBM) firing, where Star Target training missiles were successfully intercepted.

German PATRIOT Surface-to-Air Missile Wings 1, 2 and 5,and supported by air defence units from the Netherlands, executed the exercise.

PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE EXERCISE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED VIKING 08, the fifth in the series of multi-national and multi-functional exercises in the Spirit of Partnership for Peace (PfP), was conducted 3 to 14 November 2008. This year’s scenario was based on a peacekeeping operation based on a fictitious set-up involving several countries in serious crisis. 30 nationalities from NATO and PfP countries and approximately 2000 military and police officers and civilian representatives worked during the exercise in 7 countries. In total 45 International, Governmental and Non-Governmental Organisations took part.

The Final Exercise Report will be submitted in mid-February 2009. Immediately after the exercise, however, participants, visitors and observers were highly satisfied with what they had experienced. For Brigadier Lennart Bengtsson, Director of EXEVAL, the organization responsible for the evaluation, the most important issue is that the exercise be a ‘learning event’. “The exercise is thus not intended to be a test of what they can already do, but rather an experience from which they can learn something new and so develop their own professional abilities,” said Bengtsson referring to the participants.

WORLD’S FIRST NH90 FULL-MISSION SIMULATOR INAUGURATED On the occasion of the commissioning of the world’s first NH90 full-mission simulator (FMS), Helicopter Flight Training Services GmbH (HFTS) invited guests to the newly built NH90 Simulation Centre at the Army Aviation School in Bückeburg, northern Germany. During the on-site ceremony, Robert Hollensteiner, managing director of HFTS, welcomed the launch customer from Germany, international customers from Finland and Sweden, and guests from the armed forces, industry and politics.

“We are proud to have delivered our first NH90 simulator almost on time, which is not a matter of course for a military project of such complexity,” he said. According to Hollensteiner, that complexity not only referred to the technology, but also to the contractual structure of the programme, since more than 20 individual contracts describe

The NH90 full-mission simulator at the Army Aviation School in Bückeburg.

Image credit: W Ullrich.

the multi-layered relations between the customer, the provider and the financier. For Harald Stein, president of the Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement Agency (BWB), this German private operator contract is above all al sign of the increasingly strong international interest in publicprivate partnerships.

Brigadier General Günter May, Commander of the Air Force Weapon System Command, pointed out that the actual 14.5-year service contract covers only half of the intended life-time of the multirole NH90 helicopter. The simulator, as marvellous it might be right now, will have to constantly adapted and developed throughout its life-span. And networking is an example. According to Brigadier General Richard Bolz, Commander of the Army Aviation School, such a netted operation-oriented training platform, encompassing the NH90 FMS and other training systems, will be set up within the next two or three years.

The new NH90 full-mission simulator is comparable to Level C according to JAR FSTD 1H standards. It includes a full-motion system with six degrees of freedom, an instructor station, simulation of all systems and optional equipment solutions, avionics system and a full replica of the NH90 cockpit, sound

system, OEM simulation data package and a visual system field of view of 200° horizontal and 60° vertical daylight/ dusk/night. The visual database features detailed environmental visuals as well as realistic 3D moving models and full correlation between databases. The FMS guarantees the most representative synthetic environment of the NH90 and the latest aircraft configuration, with through-life upgrades, based on a Eurocopter data package and flight loop software using genuine aircraft manufacturer software. Flight profiles will be adjustable to any customer’s mission profile and environment.

The provider, Helicopter Flight Training Services GmbH, was founded in 2004 by an industrial consortium made up of CAE Elektronik GmbH (CAE), Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH (ECD), Rheinmetall Defence Electronics GmbH (RDE) and Thales Deutschland (THD).

The total value of the contract, which runs until the year 2022, amounts to �488 million. The contract stipulates that HFTS establish and operate four simulators at three NH90 training centres to deliver turnkey training services payable at an hourly rate. The German Armed Forces are contractually committed to take 18 hours per day, that is a total of 217,000 hours overall. HFTS may sell hours not used by the German Forces to third-party customers, a provision that, for the time being, suits Germany, given the two year delay in delivering the real NH90.

OERLIKON CONTRAVES NAME CHANGE Oerlikon Contraves AG has changed its name to Rheinmetall Air Defence AG as of January 1st 2009. The process of force transformation now underway around the globe has prompted the company to broaden its focus beyond classic air defence to mobile systems with multimission, multi-role capabilities. Rheinmetall Air Defence AG now offers the company’s global client base a complete array of air defence assets ranging from stationary cannon-based systems to mobile guided missile-supported solutions, together with sensor technology and associated networking solutions.

The globally renowned Oerlikon brand name will live on in products like Oerlikon Skyshield, Oerlikon Skyranger and Oerlikon Skyguard.

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PEO STRI grants STOC II awards The U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) has granted 142 awards for the second STRI Omnibus Contract, known as STOC II, which is valued at $17.5 billion over the next 10 years. It serves as an efficient contracting vehicle in order to quickly get simulation and training products and services into the hands of U.S. and coalition service members.

“The overall purpose of STOC II is to have highly-qualified contractors onhand to rapidly satisfy the needs of our nation’s Warfighters,” explained Brian Murphy, the PEO STRI contracting officer responsible for STOC II. Companies competing in STOC II were evaluated in two categories: the Full and Open Lot and the Partial Small Business Set Aside Lot. Small companies competing in the Full and Open Lot also had the opportunity to compete in the Partial Small Business Set-Aside Lot, and vice-versa. Two lots were established in order to enhance PEO STRI’s ability to achieve its small business goals.

In response to the STOC II Request for Proposal, PEO STRI evaluated 158 compliant proposals in which 127 proposals (60 large companies and 67 small companies) were entertained in the Full and Open Lot, and 98 proposals were assessed in the Partial Small Business Set-Aside Lot. The proposals were evaluated based on four core factors detailed in the Request for Proposal: past performance, management, small business participation plan (applicable only to the large companies in the Full and Open Lot) and cost/price.

Existing STOC I contracts-which were awarded in four different categories: Live, Virtual, Constructive and TestInstrumentation-remain a viable solution during the transition period until each respective domain expires. The first domain, Test-Instrumentation, expires Feb. 25, 2009. The remaining domains expire March 19, 2009.

Companies outside of STOC II will still be able to do business with PEO STRI. Murphy pointed out, “STOC II is just one tool in a contracting officer’s toolkit,‘ he explained.

Murphy also said that non-STOC II companies are strongly encouraged to team with successful offerors for part36

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III Apache simulator, including realistic rendering of special and environment effects, weather states and rotor effects, as well as entity and large-area terrain management features. Boeing will also deploy the Lyra Sensors image generator, providing the simulator the ability to generate infrared and night-vision-goggle simulations.

DRIVER TRAINING SIMULATOR

Presagis’ Lyra image generator.

Image credit: Presagis.

nering or sub-contracting opportunities.

The PEO STRI Business Opportunities Web site contains the awardees’ names, addresses, e-mail and phone numbers to aid in the teaming and sub-contracting process.

NEXT GENERATION HELICOPTER SIMULATOR Boeing has selected the Presagis Lyra image generator solution to support the development of the next-generation Apache helicopter simulator (AH64D) at Boeing’s Mesa, Arizona facility.

Boeing will use Lyra in its new Block III Apache Engineering Development Simulator (EDS), the virtual simulation of the Apache weapon system.

Developed from Presagis Vega Prime real-time 3D development environment, Lyra provides an outof-the-box visualization application delivering 60Hz image generation. The solution operates on multiple hardware and operating system platforms, and utilizes two host simulation interfaces, CIGI and FlightlCD, to maximize compatibility with existing simulators.

Both Lyra and Lyra Sensors incorporate a broad range of functionality for a diverse range of interactive 3D visual applications.

Powered by Concurrent’s ImaGen™ visual server running RedHawk™ realtime Linux™ operating system, Lyra’s multi-channel, out-the-window solution brings enhanced features to the Block

Drive Square, Inc. has announced an agreement with Wegmann USA, Inc., to offer the ultimate in a portable, versatile, deployable, externally embedded driver simulation solution.

Using Wegmann’s software engine, the Drive Square simulator creates a wide range of driving experiences – from driving school to Emergency Vehicle Operation Curriculum (EVOC) to military tactical and convoy driver training. It can be used on any vehicle up to 19,000 lbs on the front axel.

Drive Square’s patent-pending hardware interface works with any vehicle and takes just 15 minutes to set up and take down. Sensors are attached to the gas and brake pedals so that the driver gets forward and braking capabilities and head tracked head-mounted display goggles provide a 360 degree view with a near immersive effect. The system allows for a separate instructor station to be included in the action as well as a separate video display for external observation.

SYNTHETIC TRAINING EVENT Commander, US Second Fleet, recently completed a Strike Force Fleet Synthetic Training event for the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) Carrier Strike Group and USS Bataan (LHD 5) Expeditionary Strike Group. The event marked the first time France, with a Carrier Strike Group staff operating from Toulon, participated as a member of the training audience.

“We are constantly expanding the Navy Fleet Synthetic Training (FST) program to include more of our Joint and coalition partners,” said Capt. C.J. Deni, head of Joint and Sustainment Training at US Fleet Forces Command (USFF) in Norfolk, VA. “We have plans to include new partners in future events and build upon the participation of those who are currently involved.”

Joint partners participating in the

training include the US Missile Defense Integrated Operations Center, US Army air defense artillery units and the US Air Force. More than 1,300 Navy, joint and coalition participants were trained during the event.

NATO TACTICAL TRAINING Bohemia Interactive, in partnership with Calytrix Technologies has announced the award of a contract to develop and deliver an Enterprise License of VBS NATO, a modified version of VBS2 that is tailor-made for tactical training across NATO member countries.

Due for delivery in mid-2009, VBS NATO will provide the first NATO-wide game-based tactical training capability, allowing distributed forces to interoperate within the powerful VBS2 virtual environment. The implementation will see NATO Allied Commander Transformation (ACT) host a number of dedicated VBS NATO servers that member countries (issued with VBS NATO client licenses) can connect to in order to conduct collective training in a wide range of customizable scenarios.

The178x124 company been working IDET EN has :Sestava 1 11/3/08 closely with US-based Cognitive Training

Solutions to refine the ability of VBS2 to provide highly realistic IED-related decision making requirements, in order to aid coalition forces training for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. These new IED features will be included in VBS NATO and also the Military User Group VBS2 distribution.

EXERCISE MANAGEMENT TOOL The Land HQ, MoD UK, has placed an order worth approximately £1.2 million to the Swedish company 4C Strategies for their software Exonaut™. The system will be used to plan, conduct and evaluate exercises in the UK, Germany, Canada and Kenya.

Exonaut is a management system for exercises and training activities. It has been developed to help organisations conduct more cost efficient exercises by reducing the need for travel, enabling multi-staff planning and producing rapid scenario overviews.

SEOS ACQUISITION COMPLETED Rockwell Inc. has 2:14 PMCollins, Stránka 1 completed its acquisition of SEOS, a global supplier of

highly realistic visual display solutions for commercial and military full flight simulators. SEOS will operate under the Rockwell Collins name and will become part of the Simulation and Training Solutions organization.

“We’re proud to welcome SEOS to the Rockwell Collins team and look forward to the enhanced solutions we’ll be able to provide through this important acquisition,” said Ken Schreder, vice president and general manager, Simulation and Training Solutions for Rockwell Collins.

PROJECT COLLABORATION Scalable Display Technologies and VDC Display Systems, a division of Video Display Corporation are to collaborate on projects for the military and commercial simulation markets. VDC Display Systems will be using Scalable’s EasyBlend FX edge-blending software as the autocalibration solution in a visual system for a training simulator currently in development for the US military. The system will incorporate ultra high resolution projectors and a high performance screen, using EasyBlend FX to edge blend and correct geometry for the spherical display.

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NAVIGATIONAL SIMULATOR The recently installed Transas NT-PRO 4000 navigation simulator at Chile’s Naval School ‘Arturo Prat’, has officially been inaugurated during an opening ceremony.

Delivery of the system of five customised navigation modules allows simultaneous naval training of up to twenty-five cadets in navigation and tactical maneuvers and in the use of highly realistic ECDIS and ARPA/Radar systems, in real time. An integrated instructor room can be utilised to control, support and view five navigation bridges via a suite of software instructional tools, and a remotely operating camera system. Each bridge includes a chart table and navigational instruments enabling trainees to learn how to effectively navigate the vessel using both traditional and modern methods. Hands-on control includes propulsion and steering equipment, and an industrial joystick and trackball system for course and RPM control. A meeting room completes the delivery package where simulation scenarios may be displayed in order to carry out pre and post briefings of each exercise.

Mersive is redefining the ease with which ultra resolution, multi-projector displays can be designed, configured and maintained.

“We are pleased to bring to our customers the best-in-class auto alignment solution throughout Europe,” said Michel Pronier, CEO of Antycip Simulation. “By providing Mersive solutions in Europe, our company follows its mission to provide innovative solutions to our customers.”

IED-D TRAINING SERVICES Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) has been awarded a task order by the Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) System Center – Atlantic, Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence Division to provide improvised explosive devicedefeat (IED-D) training services. The task order is for one year with a total value of more than $17 million. Work will be performed by SAIC’s wholly-owned subsidiary Eagan, McAllister Associates, Inc. (EMA).

Under the task order, SAIC will provide training support services to the Marine Corps Engineer Center of Excellence’s Mobile Training Cadre/Train the Trainer Program. The program instructs forces on the tenets of IED-D and counter-IED radio controlled electronic warfare, equipping them with individual and collective skills to help mitigate the IED threat.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP Mersive Technologies have signed a distribution agreement with Antycip Simulation. Antycip Simulation will serve as Mersive’s distribution partner for Europe.

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VISUAL UPGRADE Display Solutions, Inc. has been selected

by Aegis Technologies Group to upgrade the visual sub-system on the Improved Moving Target Simulator (IMTS) Low Altitude Air Defense (LAAD) weapons training system at Camp Pendleton, CA. The IMTS trainer provides computer-generated aircraft and background images in a 360-degree, 40-foot dome.

The Display Solutions upgrade consists of removing existing projectors and software warping and replacing them with 16 SXGA+ DLP projectors and hardware-based video warping post processors, all LAN controlled and without major modifications to the IMTS superstructure.

The goals of the upgrade are to improve the training capability with higher video update rates, improved daytime scenes and smoother edge-blends between channels. Display Solutions selected the F20 DLP projector from Projection Design and the video post processing from 3D Perception for the upgrade.

SAAB DELIVERS The Swedish company Saab reported that during 2008 it won several contracts

Multi-projector display after autocalibration.

Image credit: Air Force Research Lab/ Antycip Simulation/Mersive Technologies.

for training simulators destined for the Norwegian army. The first order received covered simulators for firearms, and an upgrade of the targeting system. The following order was a simulator for the army’s anti tank weapon Javelin, which can be used both for fire training and tactical exercises. Only recently, Saab secured a three year contract for operational support at the Norwegian combat training center NACMTC. This order was an extension of earlier orders and enables the customer to concentrate on its core operations, while Saab makes sure that the outcome of the training is maximized.

“Norway is one of our biggest customers, with high demands on realism and reliability.” said Claes-Peter Cederlöf, vice president marketing, at Saab Training Systems.

MILITARY CONTRACTS FOR CAE CAE has announced a series of military contracts valued at more than C$80 million. Key customers include the United States Navy and Army, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, NATO, as well as the German defence procurement agency.

The United States Navy exercised a contract option for CAE USA to design and manufacture another MH-60S operational flight trainer (OFT). The MH-60S OFT will be the seventh that CAE is now under contract to deliver to the Navy.

The US Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumen-

tation (PEO STRI) has exercised a contract option for CAE USA to continue development and services as part of the Synthetic Environment Core (SE Core) program. Under this program, CAE USA’s Professional Services organization operates a rapid database production facility in Orlando, Florida for the US Army.

CAE has been awarded a contract from The Boeing Company to manufacture an Engineering Flight Simulator (EFS) to be used in the development of the US Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. CAE will deliver the P-8A EFS flight deck and flight crew controls to be used at Boeing’s Weapon System Integration Laboratory in Kent, Washington.

Lockheed Martin has exercised annual contract options for CAE USA to continue providing training support services as part of the US Air Force’s C130J Maintenance and Aircrew Training System program and C-130E/H Aircrew Training System program.

The NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) Program Management Agency (NAPMA) have contracted CAE to design and manufacture an E-3A flight training device (FTD). CAE will

deliver the FTD to the NATO main operating base in Geilenkirchen, Germany in 2010. The NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA) have also contracted CAE, in partnership with Rheinmetall Defence Electronics, to upgrade one of the EC-135 full flight simulators located at the German Army Aviation School at Buckeburg.

Finally, Germany’s procurement office BWB (Bundesamt fur Wehrtechnik und Beschaffung) has contracted CAE to provide a range of on-site maintenance support and logistics services for flight simulation equipment.

LED SIMULATION PROJECTION SYSTEM Christie has introduced the Christie Matrix StIM™, the first customer-driven, arrayed projection display system with LED illumination that simultaneously renders simulated environments in both the visible and infrared spectrums. Its modular architecture features Christie self-maintenance technology for exceptional stability, scalability, and sustainability.

The Christie Matrix StIM features Christie ArrayLOC™, an innovative tech-

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nology that automatically adjusts and balances the brightness, color space and black levels of all the projectors in the display in real-time with no additional latency. It allows for total simulation integration, with limited impact to existing systems, enabling the widest possible field of view and field of regard. It offers maximum fidelity for mission rehearsal, planning, and training for specific environments. With independent control of both the visible and infrared spectrums, the user can train seamlessly in both environments.

“We’re especially excited about the Christie Matrix StIM’s enormous potential in the field of night vision training,” said Zoran Veselic, vice president, Visual Environments at Christie. “Among its many industry firsts is Christie InfraScene™, which displays scenes in both the visible and infrared spectrum simultaneously upon the screens of a standard trainer. The infrared signatures can then stimulate actual Night Vision Goggles (NVGs), a feat that has not yet been accomplished in any practical way. With the NVGs responding just as they would in the real world, this will give users a more natural, untethered experience.”

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MULTI-CHANNEL RECORDING RGB Spectrum has expanded its line of multi-channel recording and streaming systems with the new Multicast Video Server model MVS-300. The MVS-300 is a fully integrated, high performance system for simultaneously recording, storing, and distributing up to 18 channels of high resolution imagery using the JPEG2000 compression standard.

The Multicast Video Server offers the capability to record and store multiple channels while simultaneously viewing the same imagery at multiple locations. The MVS-300 supports up to 18 simultaneous streams recorded, viewed, or replayed at up to 30 frames per second.

In a simulator application, for example, the instructor can view critical data seen by the pilot on a real time basis while the same information is simultaneously being recorded on the MVS. Observers in other locations, such as a debriefing room, can view the same real time data or previously recorded simulations stored on the MVS.

TEAMING ARRANGEMENT The Boeing Company has announced a teaming agreement with Creative Technologies Inc. of Hollywood, CA, to explore new training solutions for the military and law enforcement. The agreement brings together Boeing expertise in aviation training systems and CTI’s experience in game-based simulations for ground forces training.

The agreement formalizes an ongoing relationship – CTI is a contributor to the Boeing Future Combat Systems pro-

gram, and Boeing and CTI are partners in the US Army’s Fires Center of Excellence integration effort at Fort Sill, OK. The Army approached Boeing and CTI to offer guidance in developing an organization and training strategy to consolidate the Army’s Air Defense Artillery School and Center, previously based at Fort Bliss, Texas, and the Field Artillery School and Center based at Fort Sill. The Boeing-CTI team is making recommendations for potential synergies and long-term training strategies while developing a technology plan to support current and future Fires Center of Excellence missions.

MISSION TRAINING CENTER PROGRAM L-3 Link Simulation & Training (L-3 Link) has been awarded a $68.2 million multiple year contract to develop the US Air Force’s F-16 Mission Training Center (MTC) program. L-3 Link received the contract award from the Aeronautical Systems Center’s Simulator Systems Group at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

The program includes options for the production, delivery and sustainment of up to 20 four-ship F-16 MTCs at Air Force installations in the US, Europe and Pacific region. High fidelity F-16 MTC simulators, which will accurately model all of the fighter aircraft’s weapon systems and ordnance, will be delivered in Block 40/42 and 50/52 configurations to support basic and advanced pilot mission training, tactics validation and mission rehearsal.

Each F-16 MTC installation will consist of four high-fidelity training devices that are integrated with a 360° visual display, robust synthetic environment, instructor/operator station and brief/debrief station. The simulators can be operated individually or linked together to provide four-ship training, both within the MTC and the service’s Distributed Missions Operations (DMO) network environment.

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The Modeling and Simulation Information Analysis Center (MSIAC), operated by Alion Science and Technology, has been awarded a task order valued at $1.9 million to provide modeling and simulation support to manage the Air National Guard’s Expert Common Immersive Theater Environment (XCITE) software.

The XCITE software powers the Air National Guard’s Distributed Training Operations Center (DTOC), providing realistic, interactive theatre training environments for aircrew members and soldiers. MSIAC will evaluate XCITE and deliver a new operational version that provides higher levels of environment and threat replication.

“Operational demands have increased dramatically for the Air National Guard’s DTOC, and Alion is pleased to support the improvement of the training experience with enhanced software,” said Dick Brooks, Alion senior vice president and manager for its Distributed Simulation Group. “MSIAC’s work will deliver sophisticated software that incorporates the most current environment generation and threat presentation to deliver the training situations that imitate real-war environments.”

SMALL ARMS TRAINER Thales has won a contract for 15 small arms training simulators of its Sagittarius product range in the Indian market. Together with Mel Systems and Services Ltd Chennai, a local Indian company, they won this tender of the Indian Air Forces against strong domestic competition. In line with Thales multi-domestic approach, the simulators will be manufactured in India.

JAVELIN FIELD TACTICAL TRAINER Cubic Corporation has received a $10.6 million contract to produce basic skills trainers and student and instructor stations for the Javelin Field Tactical Trainer under contract to the Raytheon-Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture.

The Javelin is the world’s first manportable fire-and-forget medium-range missile system. US Army and Marine Corps gunners use both the basic skills trainer and the field tactical trainer to learn how to operate the missile system effectively.

The tactical trainer includes a Command Launch Unit (CLU) and a directed MILES laser capable of MILES pairing – recording a near miss, hit or kill – up to 3,000 meters on the training range or in force-on-force scenarios.

The basic skills trainer provides critical classroom training in field surveillance, target locating and acquisition, and fire mission control in the classroom, garrison, or aboard ship.

Cubic began work on the new contract in September and is scheduled to begin delivering training systems in the first quarter of 2010.

LCMS FOR CANADIAN AIR FORCE OutStart plans to implement its OutStart LCMS (learning content management system) software as part of a global project to help Canada’s Air Force transform its training operations. The project, called AFIILE (Air Force Integrated Information and Learning Environment), is led by prime contractor CAE and enlists OutStart, xwave, and other companies to help Canada’s Air Force build a military training environment that will meet current and future requirements. AFIILE offers an integrated suite of software applications that users can access to develop, manage and deliver training content across the enterprise.

“There’s a proliferation of training and information systems within the Canadian Air Force, and training content is not widely accessible between one air force school and another,” said Major Denis Forest of the Directorate Air Force Programs. “An LCMS allows us to marshal all of our training resources to be far more agile in terms of where and how we train our personnel.”

The LCMS will standardize the way

U.S. Army soldiers fire an FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank guided missile.

Image credit: U.S. Army/Gary Kieffer.

online training is created and distributed, so units across Canada’s Air Force can access the same lessons, in the same way. In addition, OutStart’s software will give air force training professionals a way to collaborate online with other personnel who may have expertise important to developing a training program. To do this, the LCMS provides a virtual room wherein these experts and training professionals can contribute know-how, review content, and edit and approve elearning courses.

IDET PRESENTS NEW TRENDS Between 5 and 7 May, 2009, Brno in the Czech Republic will host the 10th international Exhibition of Defence and Security Technologies (IDET), one of the world’s largest defence technology fairs. This year’s IDET will also mark 60 years of NATO and 10 years of Czech membership of the Alliance. All these jubilees will, of course, have an influence on the programme and overall atmosphere of IDET. One of the strong points of IDET’s jubilee event will be its top-class conference programme. The accompanying events have always been the gems of IDET, and this year will be no different.

The structure of the international conference and seminars reflects, among others, the broadening range of the exhi-

bition, which covers the field of safety/ security technology with the appropriate services. The traditional CATE 2009 Conference (Community – Army – Technology – Environment) that has been held during all previous IDET Trade Fairs will provide the backbone of the concurrent events also this year. The University of Defence Brno is the organiser and the guarantor of the CATE 2009 Conference.

The whole set of events will comprise, among others, the International Conference on the Education of Military Professionals in the Defence and Security Forces, and the International Distance Learning, Simulation and Communication Conference.

LM ACQUIRES UNITECH Lockheed Martin Corporation has completed its acquisition of Universal Systems & Technology, Inc. (UNITECH).

UNITECH provides interactive training and simulation, homeland security, and technical solutions to the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security, and other US and international government agencies. Lockheed Martin’s Simulation, Training and Support division, based in Orlando, Florida will manage the business.

Founded in 1988, UNITECH employs more than 400 people. Its core service offerings include multimedia training and performance support systems, threedimensional weapons simulations, security strategies and information technology services.

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TRAINING SUPPORT CONTRACT NGRAIN has received a multi-million dollar order with the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) under its existing enterprise software contract. The order, which includes new training support and extends existing projects, will provide NGRAIN software solutions for equipment maintenance training.

For the Army, NGRAIN will update the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command (CEFCOM) Landmine Database delivering critical landmine familiarization training and performance support to both Canadian and NATO combat engineers at home, in the classroom, and overseas. The Navy will receive virtual task trainers to support technician maintenance training on several marine engines, and leveraging existing NGRAIN 3D simulations already in use by the Air Force, NGRAIN will develop virtual task trainers to support aircraft technician training at several locations.

The trainers will cover a range of subject areas including flight control maintenance, aircraft equipment installation and maintenance, aircraft corrosion training, landing gear maintenance, and communications equipment maintenance.

CREATION OF SELEX SYSTEMS INTEGRATION In January 2009, VEGA Group PLC and SELEX Sistemi Integrati Ltd came together to create SELEX Systems Inte-

Arrivals & Departures Richard Fenwick has joined Quantum3D, Inc. to lead a newly formed organization focused exclusively on quality. He will report directly to Quantum3D chairman and CEO Michael D’Addio and direct a consolidated organization of engineering and operations personnel who previously worked in other divisions of the company. Mr. Fenwick will be responsible for product reliability, customer satisfaction and quality business practices.

The Directors’ Board of RUAG Holding AG has named Dr. Lukas Braunschweiler successor for CEO Toni J. Wicki. After handing over the company’s management 1 June, 2009, Wicki will retain his mandate to serve the Board of Directors.

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gration Ltd (SELEX SI), which is now a subsidiary of the Finmeccanica company SELEX Sistemi Integrati SpA. Over the past two decades, VEGA Group PLC developed independent technology-based training solutions that support the through-life training requirements of milestone projects such as WATCHKEEPER TUAV and EFA Typhoon.

In February 2008, VEGA became a wholly owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica SpA. The team will operate under the leadership of Tony Miklinski who joined VEGA in October 2007 after retiring from the Royal Navy as the MoD’s Director Training and Education, responsible for Defence policy. ms&t

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IDET www.bvv.cz/idet

37

ITEC www.itec.co.uk

27

Kingston Conf. on Intl. Security www.queensu.ca/cir/KCIS 40

ticipated in a demonstration of direct exchange ofCalendar data between flying and travelling devices and the control room.

April 2009 In 28-30 a simulated CH-53 helicopter flight, WATSinformation 2009 - World various wasAviation transmitted to Conference theTraining tactical datalinks (TDL)&experimental system and then converted for fowarding Tradeshow to Rosen other systems.

Shingle Creek Resort Orlando, Florida, USA CBRN SIMULATOR TRAINING www.halldale.com/WATS Argon Electronics LLP has supplied 20 GID-M-SIM training 2009 systems for use by 7-10 September theAPATS Netherlands armed forces as the sec2009 @ Asian Aerospace ond partWorld of theExpo ACADS (Automatic ChemAsia ical Agent Detection System) program.

Hong Kong The GID-M-SIM will permit comwww.halldale.com/APATS_AA.aspx prehensive training in the correct use of 150 GID-M chemical 2009 agent point detec10-11 November tors supplied by Smiths Detection.

EATS 2009 - European Airline This order follows the delivery Training Symposium by Argon of 175 CP100Congress SIM simulator Clarion Hotel training systems as part of the Netherlands Ministry Prague, Czech Republic of www.halldale.com/EATS Defence contract with Environics OY for the ChemPro100 hand held chemical detector in fulfilment of the first part of the ACADS program.

9-11 March 2009 Defense GameTech Users ATC SIMULATORS Conference UFA, Inc. has announced that the National Orlando, Florida, USA Guard Bureau (NGB) has acquired an www.simulationinformation.com/ Gametech09 3-6 May 2009 AAAA Annual Convention Nashville, Tennessee, USA www.quad-a.org 17-19 May 2009 Military Flight Training Abu Dhabi, UAE www.iqpc.com/Defence.aspx 26-27 May 2009 Levels of Fidelity VII Helsinki, Finland http://levelsoffidelity.com

Military Flight Training Conf. www.iqpc.com/ae/Militaryflight 39 Mission Planning Conference www.smi-online.co.uk/09missionplanning12.asp

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RGB Spectrum www.rbg.com

19

SAIC www.saic.com

IBC

Scalable Display Technologies www.scalabledisplay.com 13 WATS 2009 www.halldale.com/WATS

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Advertising contacts Business Manager: Jeremy Humphreys [t] +44 (0)1252 532009 [e] jeremy@halldale.com Business Manager, North America: Mary Bellini Brown [t] +1 703 421 3709 [e] mary@halldale.com

The Future of Training and Testing Today SAIC is known for innovation, design, quality, and production of superb tactical training products for warfighters. From basic Multiple Integrated Laser System (MILES) components to the most recent Tactical Effects Simulation innovation, the Combat Vehicle System (CVS), SAIC delivers cutting-edge solutions to respond to your training challenges.

Stop by the SAIC booth #2133 at AUSA Winter 2009 to see these technologies in action.

To learn more, visit us at www.saic.com/ausawinter

Energy | Environment | National Security | Health | Critical Infrastructure Š 2008 Science Applications International Corporation. All rights reserved. SAIC and the SAIC logo are registered trademarks of Science Applications International Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

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