Abstract
Virtual world simulation offers tremendous potential opportunities to improve, and optimize, individual and collective echelon training for the military. The US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Military Open Simulator Enterprise Strategy (MOSES) project’s charter is to investigate simulation-based training technology for use in military specific training domains. Of particular interest are attributes of virtual worlds such as geographically distributed large-scale trainee support. We have initiated a series of experiments to determine appropriate benchmarks for simulator performance and to determine appropriate independent variables in order to create a robust predictive model that will enable virtual world training scenario designers to calculate, a priori, the number of trainees that may synchronously operate in a virtual world. The present paper’s purposes were to determine the effect that virtual world region fidelity had on server performance and determine whether this independent variable would be appropriate for inclusion into our predictive model. We found that region fidelity had a statistically significant effect on the simulator’s processor memory usage but had no significant effect on the simulator’s vertical scalability, CPU usage nor network performance. In this paper, we discourse on the purpose of this research, our experimental methodology and results, and discuss the significance of our findings.
Highlights
The use of virtual simulation for training has been proven to increase performance and reduce costs [1] [2]
This study contributes to that overarching goal by examining the effect that a critical independent variable, region fidelity, has on server performance
The US Army has recognized the benefits of simulation-based training (SBT) and is committed to improving the efficiency of transfer of training, reducing cost and improving the overall user experience associated with SBT
Summary
The use of virtual simulation for training has been proven to increase performance and reduce costs [1] [2]. The US Military conducts virtual training research to both increase the quality of training and continually reduce costs [8]. The ALM explicitly calls for the adoption of emerging technologies used for individual and collective training, such as the use of virtual worlds. Current virtual world technologies are useful for team (2 - 4 users), squad (8 - 12 users), and platoon units (26 - 55 users), as they still do not provide an adequate training venue for large level military echelons such as battalion (500 - 1000 users), brigade (3000 - 5000 users), and division (10,000 - 25,000 users) formations. The MOSES project is investigating ways to conduct larger-scale training in virtual worlds
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