Command Profile: RDECOM STTC

ORGANIZATION

The STTC is one of 10 organizations under RDECOM, a major subordinate command under the Army Materiel Command. As a whole, RDECOM provides the full spectrum of basic research, development, engineering and analysis of warfighter systems, from concept to capability.

Colonel Craig Langhauser serves as the director of the STTC and brings with him a strong acquisition background. He previously served as the product manager (PM), Combined Arms Tactical Trainer at the Program Executive Office, Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI). The deputy director, Ivan Martinez, has 16 years of experience in the research and development of modeling, simulation and training technologies for the U.S. Army, and he previously served as the deputy director for the Night Vision & Electronic Sensors Directorate, Modeling and Simulation Division.

The organization is characterized by three divisions:

Soldier Simulation Environments, Embedded Training Technology and Blended Simulation Research; and two technical program managers (TPM): TPM Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) and TPM Modeling Architecture for Technology, Research & Experimentation (MATREX). The STTC has a small footprint with approximately 72 military, civilians and direct contractors and operates on an average annual budget of approximately $35 million mission, $10 million customer funded, $10 million DARPA and $9 million congressionally funded dollars.

MISSION

It is the mission of the STTC to conduct simulation and training research and development to enhance warfighter mission effectiveness by implementing five strategic goals:

• Goal 1: Conduct quality research in support of learning, training, testing, mission planning and mission rehearsal in the following domains:

• real-time human-in-the-loop simulation technologies;
• behavioral representation; and
• shared simulation environments;

• Goal 2: Promote learning and develop/maintain key competencies to make our people efficient and effective supporters of our warfighters’ learning, training, testing, mission planning and mission rehearsal needs;
• Goal 3: Create/maintain a state-of-the-art facility to support the development, demonstration and transition of our research and technology to programs of record and programs of instruction;
• Goal 4: Educate our stakeholders about our research program to facilitate opportunities for partnering and transition of our research and technology to programs of record and programs of instruction; and
• Goal 5: Develop and maintain processes to support the most efficient and effective use of our resources (people, funding, equipment and facilities).
 

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

The STTC takes a partnership approach to mission success. Many organizations call on the STTC for their expertise. For example, the STTC supplied lead technical guidance to PEO STRI for programs such as the generation of synthetic natural environments, live training tracking systems, support of computer-generated forces and the establishment of 18 medical simulation training centers throughout the world.

CURRENT RESEARCH

One of the latest developments from this partnership is the delivery of the Mobile Counter-IED Interactive Trainer (MCIT) prototype suite to Fort Bragg. The MCIT was jointly developed by the STTC, the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization and the ICT. The MCIT is a mobile system that provides counter-improvised explosive device (C-IED) training. The goal of the MCIT is to provide the ability for U.S. forces to recognize and defeat an emplaced IED under a variety of complex attack scenarios in the contemporary operating environment. The suite consists of four trailers that are transformed into an immersive, self-paced training environment that includes narrative storylines using video, static content displays and a red vs. blue simulation training exercise. One critical design feature is the focus on the “red perspective” providing soldiers the opportunity to engage material that helps them understand how insurgents think and function. This highly immersive training module is designed to prepare soldiers for the type of ambushes they will likely experience during deployment while also providing the opportunity to “think like an insurgent.” Rather than teaching specific driving or shooting skills, MCIT seeks to prepare soldiers mentally for hostile encounters through interactive exercises, and also reinforces key learning objectives and concepts.

Over 150 soldiers underwent training during the first week of delivery in June 2009 giving the suite rave reviews. A second version was developed for the Marine Corps and is scheduled for delivery to Camp Pendleton.

SEVERE TRAUMA SIMULATION

The STTC Severe Trauma Simulation Army Technology Objective is conducting research and development in severe trauma simulation technologies to better prepare the soldiers to deal with injuries encountered on the battlefield. Current technologies do not simulate the proper look, feel, smell or actions of real trauma and, therefore, do not properly prepare trainees for the horrific injuries they will treat in a combat environment.

Hemorrhage control is the most important lifesaving aspect in battlefield trauma medicine. The Multiple Amputee Trauma Trainer is a prototype system that consists of two lower amputations with animatronics technology providing limb movement. It incorporates reusable synthetic tissue for trauma training with unparalleled realism and durability providing realistic simulations of traumatic battlefield injuries. This prototype can be worn by human patient simulators or human actors to support realistic hemorrhage control training. The simulator includes an upper body with a penetrating chest wound to prompt treatment with a chest seal. The prototype will provide stress inoculation training such that soldiers will be physically and emotionally prepared to deal with severe wounds.

The prototype system has been tested in training environments as part of user evaluations. It was incorporated as part of unit lane training at Fort Indiantown Gap, PA, and Field Medical Training Battalion- E, Camp LeJeune.

MULTINATIONAL TRAINING

The Multinational Environment for Training Evaluation and Research (METER) is evaluating virtual world technology to create a distributed simulation environment that would support training for a wide range of joint interagency, inter-governmental and multinational (JIIM) operations, including coalition warfare.

Under the METER project, the STTC and the United Kingdom’s Land Warfare Centre are conducting experimental training exercises to evaluate virtual world technology for coalition warfare training. Exercises conducted in FY08 assessed the technologies, processes and strategies for applying distributed virtual simulation to coalition training. The exercises were conducted over commercial broadband Internet, with 30 personnel in Orlando, Fla., and 25 in the U.K. In addition, a constructive simulation was used to generate civilians to add clutter to the virtual environment. Dynamic objects, such as vehicles, weapons and materials to set up checkpoints and landing zones were also provided. The goal of the research is to leverage the scalability as well as the social and distributed nature of virtual worlds to provide a large terrain area where the U.S. and U.K. forces could conduct a collaborative mission in a cluttered urban environment.

TACTICAL BATTLEFIELD VISUALIZATION

The STTC awarded a $25 million IDIQ contract for production of Tactical Battlefield Visualization hologram and is currently working three new task orders for different customers along with the transition of the contract to PEO STRI. The new imager will require 50 percent less facility space and can potentially be placed in theater and is capable of printing color. The imager will eventually attach to a network and print images the same way a network color prints, except the product is an inscribed hologram on a flexible plastic sheet.

Also, the DARPA-funded prototype Dynamic 3-D (D3D) Tactical Digital Holographic projection system proved the concept that highquality digital holograms can be projected in a “Sandtable” format.

• The system was demonstrated at the GEOINT 2008 Conference.
• The U.S. Army Intelligence Center was so impressed with this capability that they approved an operational needs statement to continue using the prototype as a training tool.
• Development continues on the D3D capability to increase the amount of displayed information and to reduce the per unit production costs.
 

MOVING FORWARD

It is the STTC’s goal to be recognized as the pre-eminent world leader in research, development and engineering of training systems and transitioning the right technology in the shortest time to our soldiers.

In Central Florida, as part of Team Orlando and working with its sister services, academia and industry, STTC engineers are making a difference in the way soldiers learn by developing simulation technology that provides critical capabilities to increase warfighter battlefield readiness and performance. The STTC will continue to develop innovative technology and apply sound engineering solutions in order to provide unsurpassed modeling, simulation, testing and training devices to our warfighters. ♦

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