Data Analytics Development from Military Operational Data

Abstract

Each year, the National Training Center (NTC) located at Fort Irwin, California, hosts multiple Brigade-level rotational units to conduct training exercises. NTC’s Instrumentation Systems (NTC-IS) digitally capture and store characteristics of movement and maneuver, use of fires, and other tactical operations in a vast database. The Army’s Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) recently partnered with Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) to make some of the data available for introductory analysis within a relational database. While this data has the potential to expose capability gaps, uncover the truth behind doctrinal assumptions, and create a sophisticated feedback platform for Army leaders at all levels, it is largely unexplored and underutilized. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate the value of this data by developing a prototype information system that supports post-rotation analytics, playback capabilities, and repeatable workflows that measure and expose ground-truth operational and logistical behavior and performance during a rotation. The Army modeling and analysis community will use these products to systematically curate and archive the database and enable future analysis of the NTC-IS data.