A Fast-Paced Four Days
A FAST-PACED FOUR DAYS
With the 2007 I/ITSEC now a memory, the MT2 editorial team has had time to exhale, pause and reflect on what really happened in late November in Orlando. This year’s conference was again a time to see first-hand some of the product upgrades and new offerings in the industry’s portfolios.
By MT2 Staff
With the 2007 I/ITSEC now a memory, the MT2 editorial team has had time to exhale, pause and reflect on what really happened in late November in Orlando. This year’s conference was again a time to see first-hand some of the product upgrades and new offerings in the industry’s portfolios. But, more important it provided us an opportunity to meet many of you first hand and gain your insights about the state of the industry and the government customers’ wartime requirements.
During the conference’s four, fast-paced days, MT2’s editorial team was out and about on the exhibition floor, and in select special sessions and tutorial sessions. We highlight some of the innovations, trends and industry developments that gained our attention.
Floor Highlights
New classes of mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles are being supplied at a quickening pace to the services’ units deployed to Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. The conference provided the initial indication the services are pausing to align its training infrastructure with the vehicles’ deployment schedules.
U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command, Program Manager for Training Systems, awarded a contract during I/ITSEC for Arotech’s FAAC subsidiary to expand the capability of its highly flexible USMC operator driving simulators (ODS) to include the Cougar Category I MRAP vehicle. Todd Glenn, military business development representative, FAAC, demonstrated this expanded capability in a conference-floor simulator. A generic tactical wheeled vehicle cab was fitted with a Cougar-specific dash panel and supporting high-fidelity software to deliver the vehicle dynamics of a 4-wheel, Cougar I MRAP. “The use of interchangeable dash panels allows the same cab to support an up-armored HMMWV, the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement and now the MRAP,” pointed out Glenn. “The high-fidelity vehicle dynamics software allows the system to realistically simulate the performance and handling characteristics of the selected vehicle,” he added.
Small companies continue to be a source of innovation and expertise with niche competencies and portfolio expertise. Since 1992, New Orleans, La.-based Digimation has been a leading provider of 3-D content in many commercial markets. Digimation creates high quality, technically accurate 3-D models that operate with most commercial 3-D animation software. The company has now set its sights on providing 3-D content for DoD maintenance and other training requirements.
David Avgikos, president, Digimation, used a high-fidelity model of a C-130 propeller assembly to demonstrate how its products can be inserted into training media. “One area in which we are getting a lot of interest is in the field of reverse engineering. Most computer-based maintenance programs are driven by 3-D content and Digimation has developed a way to create lightweight, instantly recognizable parts from photos and scanned data,” he explained.
Industry Trends
An increasing market segment is being fed by the growing appetite of first responders and other homeland security training audiences for virtual training systems. CAE, Forterra Systems, Unitech, L-3 Communications’ Link Simulation and Training and ETC Simulation are among the companies that have fielded products or readied proposals for homeland security organizations around the globe.
One deployed product is Orlando-based ETC Simulation’s Advanced Disaster Management Simulator, which is in use at Chicago’s O’Hare airport and other sites, and was highlighted at the conference. Adam McCard, product manager, reported that his product has “geotypical databases for specific venues and that the program allows command and control, and other individual and team competencies to be developed.”
The industry’s consolidation continued through 2007 and was evident on the conference floor with the initial presence of the entire Presagis team. In August, 2007, CAE unveiled Presagis, its new modeling and simulation software company. CAE combined its acquisitions of Engenuity Technologies, MultiGen-Paradigm and TERREX and an existing CAE commercial-off-the-shelf software team, to create an independent company specializing in COTS modeling and simulation software.
Presagis representatives highlighted recent developments in their company’s portfolio, including AgustaWestland’s recent selection of the STAGE Scenario to drive the interactive simulation capabilities of its new helicopter simulator.
Successful training innovation on the other side of the Atlantic has also caught DoD’s attention. Saab Training Systems’ Urban Deployable Instrumented Training System (DITS) was selected as DoD’s 2007 Foreign Comparative Test Program of the Year. The Urban DITS program was successfully tested by the Marine Corps and was selected out of 37 new start programs sponsored by the services and USSOCOM. Urban DITS supports live training exercises that move from open terrain fighting to urban environment combat. ♦