Virtual C-IED Solutions
Written by Marty Kauchak
MT2 2010 Volume: 15 Issue: 4 (July)
THE INDUSTRY/GOVERNMENT TEAM IS USING
THE VIRTUAL DOMAIN TO DEVELOP A WIDE
ARRAY OF SKILL SETS IN THE C-IED CAMPAIGN.
The government/industry team uses the virtual domain to complete an expanding array of counter-IED (C-IED) tasks. Simulations, simulators and serious games are among the technologies enabling U.S. servicemen and women to learn to operate C-IED equipment and vehicles, as well as gain efficiencies in C-IED recognition and decision-making.
BUILDING RECOGNITION AND ADVANCED SKILL SETS
Bohemia Interactive Simulations Inc. (BI) is supporting diverse U.S. DoD IED defeat efforts.
In one effort, BI is helping to develop experts in IED detection through IED3, a two-year, JIEDDO-funded program that is being conducted by scientists. IED3’s goal is to develop video game-based training for cognitive skills related to visual IED detection. “Specifically, we’re aiming to develop six scenario-based modules within the VBS2 platform,” John Givens, president, BI, told MT2. Givens added that the modules will be developed independently by each participating JIEDDO organization and integrated into a common system to provide a complete training package.
BI’s longstanding support of U.S. Marine Corps training now includes the service’s Insurgent Mindset Training (IMT) program—a project that remains under development and is also based on the VBS2 platform.
BI is using IMT to elevate C-IED skills beyond basic detect-locate-destroy IED competencies and into the arena of decision-making and other more complex skills. “Basically we take what are the insurgents thinking, what are they doing, what’s their method and how do they do that. It’s not just training to drive down the road, see the man, find the culvert, look for an IED and if you find one you blow it up. It’s more of the methodologies of what is the insurgent’s mindset for doing these types of things so we can predict that order of magnitude, or that level of prevention that is needed in order to detect or avoid those IEDs,” said Givens.
One example of the cognitive demands for the IMT program may be gleaned through a virtual scenario scripted upon a mission all too familiar to many U.S. ground forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Upon a squad’s entry into a village, the residents (avatars) are acting a bit nervous and running around. “As you approach the leader of that village you sense something doesn’t seem right. All of that is programmed in so you get a feel for what is happening. That’s the cue. If he makes an error, we can start talking about that and the strategies that go beyond that—the processes so the expert can make that decision,” added Givens.
To meet identified training requirements, IMT will have three modules. The first module approximates a “day in the life video,” with a tour of the environment and indicators of what constitutes normal and abnormal conditions. The second module is the insurgents scenario, allowing the Marine training audience to make decisions about emplacing and detonating IEDs and other tasks— through the eyes of an insurgent. The third module is the convoy mission. Building upon experience gained in the earlier modules, the student completes convoy leader tasks, including route selection and where he guides his Marines.
As IMT remains a work in progress, a number of enhancements are being considered and planned, including the ability to aggregate performance data by monitoring and recording response times, players’ locations and other details from each module.
Givens noted that IMT’s development is benefiting from VBS2 being a COTSbased product that has been used by the Army and Marines in the U.S., NATO and other defense organizations. “There has been a community of sharing. A service will say, ‘Here is what we want to do.’ Another will say, ‘That sounds good to us.’ One service is paying for items and it goes across the platform baseline. This is something that has never happened,” he said.
In another JIEDDOgenerated effort, IPKeys responded to an initial requirement from the organization’s Competitive Strategies Group to create I-GAME (IED Gaming and Modeling Environment), a 3-D rapid authoring technology that allows the warfighter to simulate virtual battlefield conditions that closely approximate the operating environment. “This is a point-and-click tool kit,” said Dan Hettrick, director, modeling and simulation, at IPKeys. “Subject matter experts who are not necessarily programmers can immediately create 3-D simulations. They can drag objects from the library and place them in a realistic 3-D scene and the artificial intelligence (AI) takes over, or they themselves can control the agent directly in a simulation.”
IPKeys collaborated with Georgia Tech Research Institute, Johns Hopkins University Applied Research Lab and other organizations to include the highest fidelity representations of electronic warfare and other systems in I-GAME, and to make the system as easy to use as possible for non-technical operators and others.
I-GAME was initially developed to provide analysis and pre-acquisition support to JIEDDO. As the organization’s internal oversight of I-GAME shifted to the Technical Analysis Group, the product is enabling the forensic recreation of IED events, video after action reviews and other missions.
Emergent’s LightSpeed development system is the I-GAME’s rendering engine. “We were looking among the commercial and government off-the-shelf rendering systems for the best-of-breed, most costeffective solution, as well as down the road for the longest term fit that we could get for the JIEDDO,” recalled Hettrick. He continued, “Emergent was working on its own rapid prototyping, rapid iteration framework and we were working on our rapid authoring framework, so this was an excellent fit.”
I-GAME will also support C-IED training and mission rehearsal events. “Specifically, we have the ability for the subject matter expert to set up a scenario and save it, and then allow another user or multiple users to participate in a multiplayer session. They may log into the same scenario and then either take the role of one of the agents in the scene as directed by the instructor, or observe the AI entities that played it out as a didactic training tool,” pointed out Hettrick.
I-GAME’s AI system allows the operator to program in military doctrine at any level required by the instructor. The product was developed with exceptionally lightweight save files to allow the files to be distributed for training, an event recreation or other missions.
The I-GAME Spiral I product was delivered in 2009. The Spiral II enhancement is expected to be delivered later this year.
NAVAIR-Weapons is JIEDDO’s contracting authority for I-GAME.
OPERATOR TRAINING
Defense organizations on both sides of the Atlantic are harnessing the virtual environment to train operators of different platforms in the C-IED campaign. The Robotic Vehicle Operator Training System is a PC-based virtual reality simulation for robot vehicles like tEODor and PackBot EOD, using virtual reality in multiple scenarios like car, bus, aircraft, buildings, different terrains, with the original control devices. The application simulates all vehicles functions, malfunctions and has different EOD procedures and different levels of difficulty.
Uwe Katzky, Ph.D., managing director, Szenaris, pointed out, “The Robotic Vehicle Operator Training System is the worldwide first and only scalable system using the original control devices to control robot vehicles in virtual scenarios. It is portable to any robot vehicle which is remote-controlled.”
The system was scheduled for delivery to the EODCenter of the German Armed Forces as this issue was published. Szenaris’s industry partners include the manufacturers of the original control devices, telerob in Germany (for tEODor) and iRobot (for Packbot EOD).
The virtual C-IED training experience has migrated to operators of the Buffalo MRAP. As an expansion of FAAC’s Operator Driving Simulator (ODS) product line, FAAC has developed a two-position crew training cab, the first variant of which supports the training of a Buffalo driver and co-driver in route clearance tasks.
Of particular note is the co-driver position, which is provided with high-fidelity controls for the interrogator arm and arm camera control unit with integrated video display. Todd Glenn, assistant director, military business development, FAAC, told MT2 that the interrogator arm simulation features a physics-based model provided by FAAC’s subsidiary, Realtime Technologies Inc. (RTI), for the arm and objects it interacts with. “The result is realistic interactions between the interrogator arm and objects as they are manipulated through pushing, lifting, sliding, tipping, etc. A soil surface scraping model currently simulates soil disturbance; however, FAAC has designs to enhance this capability by providing truly deformable terrain,” he said.
IED scenarios involving scripted as well as autonomous entities can be developed within FAAC’s geo-typical databases, representative of the contemporary operating environment. The high-fidelity simulation, when combined with the realism of a full crew cab, maximizes a Buffalo crew’s ability to train using their actual tactics, techniques and procedures for counter- IED operations.
The Buffalo ODS crew trainer can be configured with FAAC’s 6-DOF full motion platform or 3-DOF motion seats. Other configurations, including incorporation of RTI’s 1-DOF motion platform are available. The Buffalo crew trainer is networkable with other ODS simulations to provide collective route clearance package training.
As with all FAAC simulators, fixed site and mobile configurations are available for the Buffalo crew trainer, including FAAC’s mobile 6-DOF configuration, as developed for the U.S. Army Common Driver Trainer Program. Driver training variants of the Buffalo and Cougar MRAP simulators are currently in service with the USMC and National Guard. The Buffalo counter-IED crew trainer is currently being considered for use by U.S. and overseas defense organizations. FAAC is partnered with BAE and VT Group to demonstrate ODS simulation technology to the U.K. MOD. ♦