Training Goes Virtual, Mobile
Written by Henry Canaday
MT2 2011 Volume: 16 Issue: 2 (April)
More maintenance training has gone virtual as simulation techniques improve and costs shrink. The aviation world first saw the shift to simulators to supplement training for their hugely expensive aircraft assets. But the shift is also visible in training on the less costly ground systems and unmanned vehicles.
The virtual world is unlikely to entirely replace hard assets, including the full-scale, high-fidelity replicas of military platforms. But this expensive and stationary hardware is focused on its essential training tasks, while software does the rest in a blended training approach. The replicas are becoming more sophisticated, combining hardware and software tools. Training software itself has become more mobile and effective. Tightly focused training applications can be sent over the Web and sometimes put on personal devices. Training makes use of games and contests to keep students engaged, and that trend will likely continue.
One of the early maintenance trainers came from Disti. The company developed the first full 3-D virtual interface maintenance trainer for the Navy F-18 and it was the first that did not use hardware, according to Chief Technology Officer Darren Humphrey. A similar virtual trainer for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is currently being developed. Most Disti projects so far have supported aircraft maintenance, but the company is starting on other platforms, including Oshkosh Defense’s heavy expanded mobility tactical truck (HEMTT A4).
Disti virtual training can be put on PCs, laptops and in some cases personal devices, depending on the application. “Sometimes there is too much data for the Web, and it must be stand-alone,” Humphrey said. Some trainers are taking F-18 lessons on laptops into the field. “This will happen more and more.”
Humphrey said he sees a clear trend for training on systems and subsystems of aircraft, rather than on entire platforms. The company is planning to expand into virtual training for ground vehicles. Economic factors also play a role in the increasing use of virtual training, as it relieves the need for the real asset.
“Another advantage is that you can do things virtually that are too dangerous, hard or expensive to do on real assets,” Humphrey said. One company making such programs is Ngrain. The company’s strength is 3-D interactive maintenance training for complex systems, said U.S. Sales Director Chris Hawkins. “We can model complex systems, take them apart and put them back together.”
Ngrain’s U.S. subsidiary works with all branches of the military, as well as the Naval Surface Warfare Center, on maintenance trainers for ground vehicles, including the mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles that were fielded so quickly, maintenance procedures had not been well-defined. “We built a deployable virtual task refresher training solution for things like changing tires and working on engines and brake lines,” Hawkins said.
Ngrain’s 3-D Knowledge Objects are embedded in courseware for classroom instruction and then distributed over the Web for use in the field. NGrain built a 3-D trainer for diesel pump maintenance, as thousands of pumps have been deployed by the Army. “Instructors can work on the equipment up front, while everyone participates with virtual equipment,” he said.
Ngrain simulation is unique in its high fidelity and interactivity. “We show users the correct way to interoperate with equipment,” he said. “New mechanics coming into the services are used to gaming and interactive software. You need to make it exciting and interactive or you will lose them.” Hawkins predicted training solutions will be increasingly deployable, accessible anywhere and anytime.
Constantly evolving technologies and devices have created new challenges for training, but also new opportunities. Virtual training can be far more realistic than it was even a few years ago thanks to the rapid development of personal communication devices.
NVision Defense takes COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) technology into the military, said Rich Ortiz, director of business development. And business has been booming in the last six years: “We can use gaming products and pipe them through the Web so you can get training anywhere at any time,” Ortiz said. Solutions that once required laptops can now be done on iPads, iPhones or Droids. Ortiz predicted that training on personal devices will double or triple in the next five years.
NVision recently completed a VirtualSim360 maintenance solution for GATR, a satellite communications system installed in a balloon. Another solution uses iPhones to refresh soldiers on how to reassemble M240B machine guns. The technique is also used for maintenance of tracking devices on UH-60 Black Hawks and AH-64 Apaches.
“COTS is a lot more affordable, development time is faster and technology is better,” Ortiz said. Transmission to the field is also improving rapidly. “We used to pipe 50,000 polygons in real time, now we can do 2 million polygons. This is a lot cheaper than sending FSRs [field service representatives] out. This is a game changer for industry.”
NVision’s training programs are becoming highly mobile, but some systems need the stationary hardware to simulate being in the vehicle or aircraft and the maintenance associated with those assets.
Hampden Engineering makes hardware training devices and simulation videos for DoD.
Michael Flynn, vice president, said Hampden’s HMMWV air conditioning trainer consists of an actual HMMWV frame mounted on a mobile carrier with a fully functional air conditioner mounted on the rear. Hampden’s braking system trainer mounts a HMMWV braking system on a mobile frame. The company also makes cutaway HMMWV motors and transmissions for maintenance training.
Similar training hardware supports military maintenance trainers for refrigeration units, steam boilers, pumps, motors, transformers and hydraulic systems. “We are also getting into on-board controls for the Navy,” Flynn said. Hampden already supplies training devices for all the U.S. service academies.
Other companies like American Systems also use the hardware to supplement training. The company does “very small things to very complex things,” said Ali Kalwar, vice president for Orlando Operations. The Orlando unit is chiefly devoted to military maintenance training.
The company developed the simulated aircraft maintenance trainer (SAMT), with a full-fidelity cockpit and virtual displays, for Air Force and Navy F-18s. “We build an entire training system, starting in the classroom with instructor-based learning, and then simulation and other devices,” said Damian Szigeti, engineering manager.
“For the F-18 we can go almost to concurrency training without hardware,” Szigeti said. “You do not feel the pressure of tightening up a bolt in virtual, so there is still a place for hardware in training.” For the F-18, American Systems delivered a full-fidelity cockpit that looks just like the real thing. Instructors previously used real aircraft, but for the last three years have been using replica hardware and 3-D simulation.
Training hardware and software is developed only after an analysis of likely failures, primary, secondary and tertiary. That way, the simulators need only address repair of parts that will actually need maintenance.
This still leaves a huge number of procedures to learn. Szigeti said their F-18 maintenance training program includes 451 exercises. The F-18 is American Systems’ largest training program, but it has done smaller programs for the Army, Air Force and Marines. The company is also involved in training for the F-35.
Szigeti said he thinks the new virtual methods will be applied to maintenance of many vehicles in the future. “Tanks, UAVs, other equipment have the same issues. We see a lot of interest from other services,” he said.
But funding can be an issue. The Marines asked for proposals on maintenance training for one ground vehicle, but canceled the procurement due to budget restraints.
As demand and usage increases, the tools will also continue to improve.
“We are using 3-D on 2-D screens now,” Szgeti said. “I think we will move toward more true 3-D, more realistic. We will improve models and get deeper into engines.”
Szigeti also expects to see more gaming approaches used in training. “We will pit crews against each other in time or quality trials. Instead of just going through the manual, they will compete against each other. This will make training more interesting and exciting.”
Most American Systems simulation programs have so far been run on laptops and tablet PCs. “For the first time on the F-18 we got it so we can send it over the Web to ships so they can use it when their F-18s come in,” Szigeti said. High level training applications still require laptops. But pieces of these systems can be separated and put on personal devices, “although there are some ergonomic issues about how much you can show on a small screen,” Szigeti said.
Like American Systems, AAI has developed training hardware and the associated courseware. AAI is a full-service maintenance training firm for military clients, mostly for U.S and other air forces, according to John Hayward, director of training services. “We design and develop full-scale, high-fidelity hardware, virtual training and courseware for training, and we provide training instructors and contractor logistics support for our equipment,” he said.
In the 1990s, AAI built hardware to train maintenance techs on the E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS). This was a full-size training device containing scripts that could very flexibly take students through different tasks and situations.
For the F-22, AAI built three full-sized high-fidelity devices that trained on munitions loading, fuel systems, weapon safety and a variety of maintenance tasks on landing gear.
A much bigger program delivered 37 hardware devices used for training maintenance techs on the C-17 Globemaster. These devices are spread across the U.S. and internationally, including one installation in Australia. They cover maintenance of avionics, communications, flight controls, landing gear, cargo doors, fuel systems, engines, auxiliary power units and other systems. Each device includes an instructor operator station (IOS) that allows the instructor to track a student’s progress as he learns to remove components, isolate faults or perform other tasks. All of these devices are large and sophisticated replicas of real equipment and can contain up to one million lines of code. “These devices allow training in a safe and controlled manner on critical systems without taking aircraft out of service,” Hayward said.
In contrast, AAI’s next program is a PC-based 3-D virtual trainer for the F-35. There will be one IOS version for every 12 student versions, allowing instructors to monitor student activities, alerting them when students perform below expectations so they can take control of student screens. AAI will deliver the first F-35 virtual trainer later this year.
AAI has also set up C-17 training for the Royal Air Force, designed maintenance courses for the Japanese and Italian militaries and developed the maintenance instruction for AAI’s own Shadow UAV.
Hayward said he sees maintenance training shifting to the 3-D virtual world but believes the fullfidelity hardware will still be important as training blends software and hardware. Grounds vehicles and UAVs are good candidates for virtual training as costs come down.
Kratos does $450 million a year supplying weapons, engineering, safety and technical training for defense. Its training systems group, headquartered in the military training hub of Orlando, Fla., offers everything from courseware and instruction design to computer-based training and full-scale, high-fidelity trainers.
Training tools have been provided for aircraft such as the UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook as well as for ground vehicles like the M1 Abrams, M2 Bradley and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
“We handle the whole crawl, walk, run training environment,” said Jose Diaz, vice president of training solutions. “Crawl begins with very specific systems on desktops, walk means mastering more complex fault isolation, and for run we turn to a full-fidelity replica of the complete platform.”
The company’s marketing vice president agreed that Kratos capabilities run the gamut.
“What is distinctive about Kratos is that we do the whole spectrum, including simulation, gaming and Web-based training,” said Neil Oatley.
In December, Kratos introduced its maintenance blended reconfigurable avionics trainer (MBRAT), a new concept in training for maintenance checks. MBRAT realistically reflects a rotor craft’s instrument panel, consoles and overheads, but uses an economical blend of computer touch screens alongside physical controls. This combination provides an immersive physical, visual and tactile environment far more realistic than computer-based training but is available at a fraction of the cost of traditional simulators.
“MBRAT was designed to train on one aircraft, but it can be reconfigured for others,” said Diaz. “And it is mobile; it can go to the field, rather than requiring that students be brought to the schoolhouse.”
Diaz said the two big maintenance training challenges now are keeping training concurrent with fast-evolving technologies, especially in such areas as unmanned aerial systems, and pushing training out to the field.
Trainers will continue to evolve with the technologies available, but will also be forced to adapt to the realities troops are seeing in theater. The demands on the military as well as cost of actual assets will drive the need for trainers, simulators and virtual training for the foreseeable future. ♦