Towards Intelligent Automated Forces for Simnet

Abstract

Abstract : This is the final report on an effort to perform seed research towards the ultimate creation of automated intelligent forces (IFORs) for SIMNET. SIMNET was a large-scale combined-arms battlefield simulator developed jointly by Bolt Beranek and Newman, (BBN) Inc. and Perceptronics, Inc. under the sponsorship of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the United States Army (Crooks et al, 1990, Jacobs, McDonough, & Crooks, 1990). The simulator provided an opportunity for training fully manned units - at the platoon, company, and battalion levels - through direct engagements against comparable opposing forces. In addition to serving an important training function, the intent was also to use SIMNET as a testbed for developing and assessing doctrine and tactics, and as an aid in evaluating proposed weapon systems prior to their construction and acquisition. All of this was feasible because SIMNET was constructed from a set of inexpensive selective fidelity physical simulators that were dispersed across the country, and were networked together to provide joint engagements. The addition of semi-automated forces (SAFORs) to SIMNET provided a means of increasing the number of units involved in an engagement without the expense of additional physical simulators and the troops required to man them. With SAFOR, a single human commander was put in direct charge of an entire simulated unit - a platoon, company, or battalion - in such a way that no other humans were needed at any of the lower command levels. The human commander could selectively move his focus up and down the command chain, immersing himself in the information environment appropriate to the selected role, and directly controlling the corresponding unit(s).