Image Generators Used in U.S. Army Training
Written by Erin Flynn Jay
MT2 2011 Volume: 16 Issue: 3 (May)
Image generators (IGs) support the immersion of the warfighter in realistic geographic locations without having to leave their home base. Aechelon Technology, Diamond Visionics, MetaVR and Presagis are four companies that offer image generators and training solutions.
In Army training systems, image generators create the ‘picture’ of the environment surrounding the trainee. A simulator’s computer(s) sends commands to the image generator based on what is occurring in the simulation such as aircraft maneuvers, ground vehicle maneuvers and trainee actions.
“Based on the simulator computer’s commands, the image generator creates a view of the environment from the trainee’s point of view and sends video signals to a display device [i.e., computer monitor, flat screen TV, projector] which renders a 3-D appearing scene of the outside world on the display device. The trainee can fly and drive around objects in the rendered scene or shoot at objects in the scene,” said Gabriel Argueta, a PEO STRI computer engineer for the U.S. Army. “The image generator provides feedback to the trainee in the form of weapon effects, collisions, altitude, and by constantly updating the rendered scene. A wide assortment of weather conditions can be injected into the rendered scene by the image generator and the image generator supports all 24 hours of the day. The trainees can receive training for different conditions around the world, such as jungle, urban, desert and ocean, without leaving their home base.”
The most noticeable use of image generators is for ‘out-the-window’ scenes such as the rendered scene in aircraft and ground vehicle windows, and the scene surrounding a warfighter or combat team calling in airstrikes or firing shoulder mounted missiles. Image generators are also used in the simulation of sensors such as forward looking infrared, electro-optical sensors, low-light TV and radars.
The image generator creates a picture of the environment based on the characteristics of the real sensor system, which is rendered in the same format as would be seen in the real sensor equipment. Additionally, image generators are used in simulated military equipment such as binoculars, remotely operated video enhanced receiver (ROVER), lightweight laser designator rangefinder and infrared zoom laser illuminator designator. “The image generator provides the scene in the simulated equipment’s optical path that would be seen by the trainee in the real military equipment,” said Argueta. “The image generators, in concert with the display systems, can also stimulate real military equipment, such as night vision goggles, to enhance critical training.”
IG Improvements
Improvements to image generation that are consistently voiced by the users include: increased terrain database content and clutter; rapid update to small areas in the terrain database; dynamic changes to the terrain and features based on trainee and scenario actions; realistic weapons effects based on the weapon, weather conditions, and material of the object impacted; increasing the number of entities, life forms, lights and special effects that can simultaneously occur; and improved meteorological conditions representation, particularly dynamic shadows.
From a life cycle support perspective, most image generators are delivered as a subsystem within a simulator and not as a standalone purchase. Depending on the complexity of the simulator, the image generator that is delivered with the system is often more than two years old. For the computer graphics industry, technology that is already two years old is nearing obsolescence for several key components. “So there is a need to upgrade the image generators prior to acceptance of the simulator. Also, unmodified COTS [commercial off-the-shelf]-based solutions are needed with hardware and software independence,” said Argueta. “Being able to take advantage of improved computer graphic processing capabilities with less impact to the total simulation system and at a lower cost is considered necessary.”
In an effort to further enhance the training environment, several requirements and desired capabilities that will push the virtual environment technology envelope to develop higher fidelity training are being included in PEO STRI procurements. These requirements and desired capabilities are being integrated into systems as permitted by the programs’ resources.
Argueta said examples of these requirements and desired capabilities are:
- Moving/turning wheels and tracks that realistically represent the speed and direction of the vehicle.
- Damage to life forms based on nearby munitions’ impacts on buildings and wall structures.
- Increasing the behaviors of life forms and adding more variety in the appearance and mannerisms shown by life forms.
- 3-D database geometry changes to buildings based on munitions hitting buildings or walls, so that holes are created which expose building interiors and multiple “hits” cause the building to collapse.
- Dynamically modifying the terrain as a result of the own-vehicle or other convoy vehicles travel.
- Ripples and light reflections in streams, lakes and rivers.
- Replacement of the image generator software and graphics card prior to government acceptance testing.
Cost Benefit of Simulation
The cost benefit of using simulation to train our warfighters is extremely high. “The estimated cost to use a full motion, high fidelity helicopter simulator for an hour is $2,500. The hourly cost to conduct the training in a UH-60 helicopter is estimated at $7,000 and training in a CH-47 helicopter at $7,400. A similar savings can be realized for ground vehicles,” Argueta said. “It has been stated that the total average cost (vehicle cost, parts, maintenance and fuel) of driving a tank 100 km is about $75,000. Using a simulated tank is a fraction of that cost. With the current rise in fuel costs, the savings that can be realized using simulation will only increase.”
Simulation and training is classified in three domains: virtual, constructive and live. Image generators are prominently used in virtual training and rarely used for constructive and live training. Virtual training prepares individual soldiers and commanders to detect, recognize, identify and acquire targets or threats by interacting with the details of the real word environment simulated in the virtual trainer. Embedded training and gaming normally fall under virtual training. Constructive training involves a more abstract representation of the training environment which does not require real word visual cues.
Constructive training is primarily used to develop the warfighter’s tactical and strategy decision-making capabilities at higher echelon levels. Live training is training in and with real equipment. It is becoming more common for live training to include virtual training elements. For instance, Argueta said real aircraft communicate with pilots in simulators and personnel using ground simulators to train close air support procedures and training. Another example is training in the latest shoot-houses, which includes the live elements of moving through a real building and shooting with real weapons at virtual threats. Image generators provide the rendering of the virtual threats.
Virtual training and simulation provides the U.S. Army with dedicated training equipment available 24/7 that is inexpensive compared to using the real equipment, is environmentally friendly and allows the simulation of training situations that are too dangerous for live training.
Image generators support the immersion of the warfighter in realistic geographic locations without having to leave their home base. Image generators are a key component to mission rehearsal and mission training, which allows the warfighter to plan his mission, test out his plan and make changes to improve mission success, and to gain familiarity with the actual environment the warfighter will be deployed to.
The use of image generators in the training environment cannot fully substitute for live training; however, Argueta said, as proven in previous conflicts it is a very strong complement and results in saving warfighters’ lives by preparing them for any situation in the battlefield.
“At this time, there are no requests for information or proposals for image generators, and stating whether there will be one within the next 60 days would be purely speculative on our part,” said Argueta. “We encourage our industry partners and other interested parties to check the multiple venues that track this type of information: FedBiz Ops, STOC II website and the COS database.”
MetaVR ’s VRSG
MetaVR’s IG virtual reality scene generator (VRSG), is used for training applications such as unmanned aerial system trainers (where VRSG provides the camera view for MUSE/ASFERS and programs such as the Army TUAS embedded trainer), manned flight simulators (such as A-10 FMTs and F-16 FMTs), mission planning and rehearsal (such as JTAC simulation training and long-haul network collaborative exercises conducted via Distributed Mission Operations Center [DMOC]), urban operations training and disaster management training.
“While simulation can never replace the experience of live training, preparing for a live mission in a synthetic environment can make live training more effective as long as the simulation is a realistic replica,” said W. Garth Smith, MetaVR co-founder and chief executive officer.
Fuel cost is but one factor in the cost-saving benefits of simulation training in 3-D environments. “A huge factor in the cost benefit of simulation training is the savings in airframe hours. Because of the limited service life of many platforms used in current conflicts, savings in airframe hours is crucial and bigger concern than fuel cost,” said Smith. “Probably the biggest factor is resource allocation and scheduling; logistic scheduling. In simulation training, participants in a networked environment can participate in exercises from geographically disparate areas.” The U.S. Air Force, DMOC at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., has used MetaVR VRSG for networked distributed mission operations (DMO) since 1997. Starting in fall 2009, VRSG has provided the visuals for JTAC training in DMOC Virtual Flag events, hosted quarterly at Kirtland Air Force Base. The DMOC Virtual Flag exercise is a seven-day event that links geographically separated live, virtual and constructive entities in shared joint and coalition synthetic theater environments to create a realistic virtual campaign. Warfighters participate from worldwide locations.
The Iowa Air National Guard Distributed Training Operations Center (DTOC) for distributed mission operations also uses VRSG in its networked exercises. MetaVR’s technology is used operationally within the Peoria Air National Guard’s simulation infrastructure for training JTACs. In one exercise MetaVR’s Afghanistan terrain is streamed as real-time video to an actual ROVER portable video display device. The simulated threats and the telemetry for the video stream from the UAV camera payload operator were provided by the DTOC.
In August, 2010, players within the Air National Guard (ANG) community completed another simulator milestone when the 169th Air Support Operations Squadrons (ASOS) at Illinois ANG in Peoria linked its JTAC simulator with three F-16 full mission trainer (FMT) simulators from the newly operational mission training center at the Vermont ANG facilities in Burlington, Vt. VRSG drove the visuals for the training systems at the sites and provided fully correlated terrain. Some 30 ASOS units now have MetaVR-based visual systems that provide both a first person JTAC simulation capability and simulated UAV video feeds.
“There is no reason why soldiers in theater cannot have mission rehearsal beforehand in a synthetic geospecific replica of the area they are operating in. But how many times have you seen in the media video footage or still photos of soldiers in Afghanistan standing in a circle conducting mission rehearsals with mounds of drift and Styrofoam cups and sticks?” asked Smith.
Diamond Visionics’ GenesisRTX
Diamond Visionics’ GenesisRTX image generator is a unique and advanced technology that eliminates the boundary between traditional database generation and database visualization. The GenesisRTX dynamic construction engine procedurally builds 3-D scenes directly from GIS source data (including vector, model, imagery, classification and elevation sources) by leveraging modern COTS multi-core CPU and GPU architectures and processors, said David Gdovin, president and founding partner of Diamond Visionics. This technology eliminates the need for time-consuming and labor-intensive off-line database generation and the need for an intermediate simulation specific format.
“GenesisRTX customers are realizing a lower total cost of ownership, a significant increase in scene content, fidelity and a decrease in time between data delivery and data update. With GenesisRTX, every system can be mission rehearsal ready,” said Gdovin.
Examples of recent program or licensing wins for DVC and GenesisRTX include the following:
- IG upgrade for all of the US P-3C image generators (NAS Jacksonville)
- P-3C Taiwan front-end with CAE-USA
- German FPS-H program continuation
- Frasca TruVision Image Generation (Ref 1)
- Boeing North America Enterprisewide license
Aechelon Technology’s Perspective
“Our focus as a company is unique in the sense that we are focused on U.S. armed forces and the U.S. Coast Guard, and in our 12 years of deliveries an interesting transformation has occurred on how our image generators and databases are used,” said Javier Castellar, co-founder and director of programs at Aechelon Technology Inc. “As sensor and terrain fidelity has increased, [use has transitioned] from basic training, to advanced training, to move training curriculum that originally was thought to only be possible in real aircraft or systems to the simulated devices. Eventually this transition has finally reached mission rehearsal and situational awareness for real mission use.”
The specific platform has also dictated the use, from fixed wing attack aircraft to P-8A ISR multi-sensor systems, from T-45 trainers to advanced UAS ground stations, from AH-1W attack helicopters to CH-47F cargo to presidential helicopters, said Castellar. Other derived applications include aerial gunner trainers and lately additional focus for special operations.
Increases in fidelity have allowed curriculum to be transferred from real aircraft or systems to training devices. “From our perspective, the main focus is increasing the safety of the warfighter and its proficiency, but on tight budget environments the side effect is enormous ROI due to fuel savings. Fuel savings are both direct during training devices use and also indirect on real aircraft training, which becomes more focused on the final proficiency without wasting time, and therefore fuel, in parts of the curriculum transferred to the trainer,” Castellar said.
Aechelon has always had a holistic view of programs—the firm wants the program to be successful beyond their scope. “That is why we spent considerable self-funded R&D in helping prime contractors to improve displays and correlation of radar and other subsystems. In our view, the visual systems need the right subsystems to exploit their curriculum potential—that is only possible if we look beyond the narrow view of the subcontractor responsibility,” Castellar said. Using trainers can be beneficial in tasks that deal with very high resolution terrain elevation ruggedness. Trainers also complement live training by using accurate representations of sensors operating under impaired conditions as well as narrow wavelength energy representations.
Presagis Image Generators
Presagis image generators are used to rapidly deliver realistic high performance flight simulations, including helicopter, low altitude, slow flight, high altitude flight and fast jet simulations. Presagis offers turn-key image generation systems, as well as expert services help, in order to reduce the complexity and expense of deploying high-fidelity visual systems, while helping to ensure the delivery of successful flight simulations.
“By employing COTS out-of-the-box software to provide realistic visuals, our image generators help to significantly reduce the costs associated with the deployment of training systems by providing immediate access to state of the art visuals as well as the economies of scale offered by COTS solutions,” said Guillaume Hervé, president of Presagis. “The high cost associated with live training, including vehicle maintenance costs and fuel prices, as well as the intricacy of operating joint forces in live exercises are just a sample of reasons why the use of simulation for training has increased across the military.”
The increased adoption of COTS image generation solutions, such as Lyra IG and Vega Prime, allow organizations to reduce both the costs of equipment acquisition and lifecycle support. Additionally, Hervé said these solutions allow users to train independently from the restrictions of other resources’ schedules. Integral to Presagis COTS solutions is the interoperability across multiple users or locations. The ability to operate with other individuals, at disparate locations, allows for true-to-life missions rehearsal where multiple entities must interact as a team.
Every training program is premised on a training needs assessment that attempts to fit the appropriate level of training realism to the level of the training being carried out. Presagis image generation solutions provide customers with open, high performance, affordable image generation systems that can be extended with capabilities found in other Presagis and third party products to create highfidelity simulations that complement live training exercises.
“These training solutions can be integrated early on in the training footprint prior to the use of more expensive simulation-based or live training systems,” said Hervé. “The highly scalable design also allows users to tailor the IG system’s capabilities and functionalities through COTS software, including the addition of sensor simulation, flight dynamics and integrated SAF, to fit tailored project requirements and evolving training needs.”
Presagis can provide ready-to-use image generation solutions that support open database and communication standards, and offer immersive visualization coupled with a high-fidelity simulation engine. “Our products and technical services provide solutions for pilots and trainees to interact with environments and missions, as well as familiarize themselves with realistic hardware controls for helicopter systems,” Hervé said. “By immersing the trainee in a highly realistic visual and simulation environment, our solutions help to provide an efficient way to rehearse missions and prepare for operations, in order to complement the live training pilots have received.” ♦