Military Simulation Research Articles

Thinking inside the box

A widespread turn towards mechanism-centred explanations can be viewed across the social sciences in recent decades. This article clarifies what it might mean in practical terms to adopt a mechanismic view of causation. This simple task of definition turns out to be considerably more difficult than it might at first appear. The body of the article elucidates a series of tensions and conflicts within this ambient concept, looking closely at how influential authors have employed this ubiquitous term. It is discovered that ‘mechanism’ has at least nine distinct meanings as the term is used within contemporary social science: (1) the pathway or process by which an effect is produced; (2) an unobservable causal factor; (3) an easy-to-observe causal factor; (4) a context-dependent (bounded) explanation; (5) a universal (or at least highly general) explanation; (6) an explanation that presumes highly contingent phenomena; (7) an explanation built on phenomena that exhibit lawlike regularities; (8) a distinct technique of analysis (based on qualitative, case study, or process-tracing evidence); or (9) a micro-level explanation for a causal phenomenon. Some of these meanings may be combined into coherent definitions; others are obviously contradictory. It is argued, however, that only the first meaning is consistent with all contemporary usages and with contemporary practices within the social sciences; this is therefore proposed as a minimal (core) definition of the concept. The other meanings are regarded as arguments surrounding the core concept.

In this issue

In this issue

The heuristic and analytical methodologies applied in a computer assisted exercise

This very brief example of military simulation shows usefulness as a practical basis for education, training, analysis, and decision-support. As an analytically challenging field of pursuit, milita...

Research of dynamic scheduling method for the air-to-ground warfare simulation system based on grid

The military field has been a strong demand for automatic management of the running of simulation, and the sharing of simulation resources and so on. Aimed at the puzzles in current HLA-based simulation system, and with the combination of a new grid idea, a framework of simulation grid has been presented. This article is absorbed in the aim how to schedule the task under simulation grid environment and explore the dynamic dispatch to the parallel tasks in the federation entity level. Finally a mended heuristic scheduling algorithm has been designed. This algorithm dynamically adjusted decision-making through using the information of systematical real-time operating status, be able to making a timely response dynamically according to the changes of the characteristics of simulation system, re-achieve balance and improve the system performance, fault-tolerant and load-balance ability according to the adjustment of the dynamic fluctuations of the loading. Taking the air-to-ground warfare simulation system as an example, simulation results verify that the method is effective and useful, and it could contribute to enhance using resource quotient and construct the large-scale military simulation applications.

Ready for Battle? A Phenomenological Study of Military Simulation Systems

The purpose of this research is to determine if there is task-technology fit for the use of simulation in training. In the context of military training, the research investigated whether military officers experience a fit between the simulations with which they were trained and their tasks (e.g., strategy or operational procedures), as reflected by their perception of whether their performance improved, and whether the simulation supported their individual activities. The research method followed the qualitative research tradition of transcendental phenomenology to query the experience of those who were trained with simulation. This research utilized interview questions that elicit respondents' experience in the broad areas of task-technology fit, and through phenomenological analysis, identified the salient variables within each of these constructs. The analysis resulted in the identification of themes of meaning which were compared with the existing task-technology fit variables. The research identified the emergence of new task-technology fit variables.

단일 위성 영상 기반의 반자동 건물 모델링 시스템

최근 고해상도 위성 영상의 보급에 따라 이를 활용한 서비스가 증가하고 있다. 특히, <TEX>$Google\;Earth^{TM}$</TEX>와 <TEX>$Virtual\;Earth^{TM}$</TEX>와 같은 전 지구 차원 의 3차원 가시화 서비스나 최근 일부 도시에 대하여 제공되고 있는 3차원 GIS 서비스는 지형과 지물에 대한 사실적인 기하정보를 제공하고 있다. 이러한 서비스들은 도시 개발 계획의 수립, 도로망의 개선, 엔터테인먼트 사업, 군사 시뮬레이션, 재난 및 재해 관리 등의 다양한 분야에 활용이 가능하다. 이러한 활용을 위해서는 고해상도 위성 영상을 이용하여 지형 및 지물 정보를 효과적으로 추출하는 연구가 요구된다. 본 논문 에서는 단일 위성 영상으로부터 건물의 3차원 모델을 추출하기 위한 요구사항을 살펴본 뒤 이를 기반으로 효과적인 모델 추출을 위한 시스템 을 제안한다. 제안하는 시스템은 영상의 특징 정보와 건물, 위성, 태양의 기하 관계를 이용하여 최소한의 사용자 조작으로 건물의 3차원 모델을 추출한다. 마지막으로 실제 위성 영상으로부터 건물의 3차원 모델 추출을 수행하고 효과적으로 3차원 모델을 획득할 수 있음을 보인다. The spread of satellite image increases various services using it. Especially, 3D visualization services of the whole earth such as <TEX>$Google\;Earth^{TM}$</TEX> and <TEX>$Virtual\;Earth^{TM}$</TEX> or 3D GIS services for several cities provide realistic geometry information of buildings and terrain of wide areas. These service can be used in the various fields such as urban planning, improvement of roads, entertainment, military simulation and emergency response. The research about extracting the building and terrain information effectively from the high-resolution satellite image is required. In this paper, presents a system for effective extraction of the building model from a single high-resolution satellite image, after examine requirements for building model extraction. The proposed system utilizes geometric features of satellite image and the geometric relationship among the building, the shadow of the building, the positions of the sun and the satellite to minimize user interaction. Finally, after extracting the 3D building, the fact that effective extraction of the model from single high-resolution satellite will be show.

Developing a Subjective Shared Situation Awareness Inventory for Teams

This paper presents the development of a subjective shared situation awareness (SA) inventory for distributed teams. Items populating the inventory were developed to incorporate participants' perceptions on key elements of SA, including the sufficiency of shared SA requirements, mechanisms, processes and devices. This inventory was administered during a large-scale distributed, computer-based, military simulation exercise. A reliability analysis showed that, overall, the inventory was highly consistent, and that, over time, instrument reliability increased. Median-split analyses on related constructs of mindfulness, implicit coordination, transactive memory, and motivation also revealed that the gap between high and low scorers increased over time in relation to ratings on the four components of shared SA. These findings indicate that participants better calibrated their perceptions of the quality of shared SA over time and that the relationship between these perceptions and these related constructs strengthened over time with experience in the exercise.

Virtual World Interoperability: Let Use Cases Drive Design

Virtual worlds are slowly creeping into our daily lives. While some early &#x0D; adopters have been using them for entertainment, research and training &#x0D; over the last 20 years, virtual trade shows and online conferencing with &#x0D; user avatars are putting them front and center on the desktops of workers &#x0D; around the world. However, while a "walled garden" virtual world may be &#x0D; useful in and of itself (just like a cell phone being able to call other &#x0D; cell phone customers using the same carrier), the real usability &#x0D; explosion will come when the different virtual worlds start talking to &#x0D; each other (just like cell phones being able to call any phone number in &#x0D; the world, no matter who the destination carrier or operator is).&#x0D; &#x0D; This article will examine the history of virtual world interoperability &#x0D; as evidenced through early systems like DIS and HLA, current systems such &#x0D; as Second Life / OpenSim teleport and OLIVE simulation interoperability, &#x0D; and will examine some common use cases for the future, interconnected &#x0D; metaverse. Based on this learning, a comprehensive approach to &#x0D; standards-based virtual world interoperability is described, and the &#x0D; article ends with a call for action.&#x0D; &#x0D; The author has a unique depth of perspective on virtual worlds &#x0D; interoperability, having worked with a variety of technologies ranging &#x0D; from military simulation all the way to massively multiplayer online &#x0D; games, having worked for a leading virtual world platform provider &#x0D; since 2001, and having shipped public virtual world interoperability &#x0D; solutions since 2005.

Validation and implementation of surgical simulators: a critical review of present, past, and future

BackgroundIn the past 20 years the surgical simulator market has seen substantial growth. Simulators are useful for teaching surgical skills effectively and with minimal harm and discomfort to patients. Before a simulator can be integrated into an educational program, it is recommended that its validity be determined. This study aims to provide a critical review of the literature and the main experiences and efforts relating to the validation of simulators during the last two decades.MethodsSubjective and objective validity studies between 1980 and 2008 were identified by searches in Pubmed, Cochrane, and Web of Science.ResultsAlthough several papers have described definitions of various subjective types of validity, the literature does not offer any general guidelines concerning methods, settings, and data interpretation. Objective validation studies on endourological simulators were mainly characterized by a large variety of methods and parameters used to assess validity and in the definition and identification of expert and novice levels of performance.ConclusionValidity research is hampered by a paucity of widely accepted definitions and measurement methods of validity. It would be helpful to those considering the use of simulators in training programs if there were consensus on guidelines for validating surgical simulators and the development of training programs. Before undertaking a study to validate a simulator, researchers would be well advised to conduct a training needs analysis (TNA) to evaluate the existing need for training and to determine program requirements in a training program design (TPD), methods that are also used by designers of military simulation programs. Development and validation of training models should be based on a multidisciplinary approach involving specialists (teachers), residents (learners), educationalists (teaching the teachers), and industrial designers (providers of teaching facilities). In addition to technical skills, attention should be paid to contextual, interpersonal, and task-related factors.

Rehearsing the “Warrior Ethos”: “Theatre Immersion” and the Simulation of Theatres of War

To pre-expose deployment-bound troops to combatants' unconventional tactics, the Army has constructed vast simulations of wartime Iraq and Afghanistan. Termed “Theatre Immersion,” these sites feature entire towns bustling with costumed villagers. The largest facility is at Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert. It is part of a long tradition of performance and war games, but never before has a military simulation worked to produce an environment with this kind of scale and attention to fidelity.

Leader—Member Exchange as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Work Group Diversity and Team Performance

This study tests a moderator of the association between diversity and work group performance: leader—member exchange (LMX). The authors theorized performance effects associated with the differentiation and aggregate level of the dyadic LMX relationships in work groups and that the nature of these LMX effects would vary qualitatively as a function of work group diversity. The model was tested with a U.S. military operational simulation, including 224 high-ranking officers in 65 temporary work groups. Results indicate that LMX interacted with work group gender diversity, such that in more gender diverse groups LMX differentiation was positively associated with work group performance when aggregate LMX was high (above the median); among less gender diverse groups, LMX differentiation was not associated with performance when aggregate LMX was high, consistent with prior research. No effects of gender diversity were found among work groups reporting low aggregate LMX or with regard to group member functional background diversity.

Governance of Data Initialization for Service Oriented Architecture-based Military Simulation and Command and Control Federations

Military simulation and command and control federations have become large, complex distributed systems that integrate with a variety of legacy and current simulations, and real command and control systems locally as well as globally. As these systems continue to become increasingly more complex so does the data that initializes them.This increased complexity has introduced a major problem in data initialization coordination, which has been handled by many organizations in various ways. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) solutions have been introduced to promote easier data interoperability through the use of standards-based reusable services and common infrastructure. However, current SOA-based solutions do not incorporate formal governance techniques to drive the architecture in providing reliable, consistent, and timely information exchange. This article identifies the need to establish governance for data service development oversight, presents current research and applicable solutions that address some aspects of SOA-based federation data service governance, and proposes a conceptual governance reference model for initialization of data in SOA-based simulation, and command and control federations.

Greedy Algorithms for Client Assignment in Large-Scale Distributed Virtual Environments

Distributed Virtual Environments (DVEs) such as online games, military simulations or collaborative design are currently very popular. To support large-scale DVEs, an architecture with multiple, geographically distributed servers is usually employed, and the virtual world is partitioned into multiple zones for load distribution. The client assignment problem arises when assigning the participating clients to the servers. Current approaches usually assign clients to servers based on a resource-driven approach, i.e. the only concern is not to overload the servers. This approach may degrade the interactivity of DVEs if the network delay from a client to its assigned server is large. In this paper, we formulate the client assignment problem, and propose three new algorithms to assign clients to servers in a more efficient way. The proposed algorithms are based on the greedy heuristics developed for the well-known Terminal Assignment problem. From extensive simulation studies with realistic settings, we find that even under heterogeneous environments such as the Internet where accurate input data for the assignment algorithms are usually impractical to obtain, some of the proposed algorithms are still beneficial to the performances of DVEs.

Are Officers More Reticent of Games for Serious Training than Enlisted Soldiers?

Video games are continuing to draw attention as possible Human Performance Improvement technologies that young people will be drawn to. Roger Smith highlights how game technologies have already and are poised to disrupt the military simulation. Further, Smith identifies five forces behind the adoption of game technology by diverse industries. One of these forces is social acceptance. Through two case studies, this research considers the contribution of two video games toward improving human performance on two different tasks as well as within two different social-cultural groups – officers and enlisted. Data is collected and analyzed on control and experimental groups to evaluate the performance difference for these tasks between traditional training approaches and various implementations of video games. In addition, data on the use and expectations about video games is collected from two social cultural groups – college educated military officers and high school educated enlisted soldiers – and analyzed to identify differences in acceptance of video games as technology for serious Human Performance Improvement.

Integrating crowd-behavior modeling into military simulation using game technology

Crowds of noncombatants play a large and increasingly recognized role in modern military operations and often create substantial difficulties for the combatant forces involved. However, realistic models of crowds are essentially absent from current military simulations. To address this problem, the authors are developing a crowd simulation capable of generating crowds of noncombatant civilians that exhibit a variety of realistic individual and group behaviors at differing levels of fidelity. The crowd simulation is interoperable with existing military simulations using a standard, distributed simulation architecture. Commercial game technology is used in the crowd simulation to model both urban terrain and the physical behaviors of the human characters that make up the crowd. The objective of this article is to present the design and development process of a simulation that integrates commercially available game technology with current military simulations to generate realistic and believable crowd behavior.

English

Realistic military simulations are needed for analysis, planning, and training. Intelligentagent technology is a valuable software concept with the potential of being widely used inmilitary simulation applications. They provide a powerful abstraction mechanism required fordesigning simulations of complex and dynamic battlefields. Their ability to model the tacticaldecision-making behaviour of simulated battlefield entities gives them an edge over othertechniques. During battlefield simulation, these entities generally represent individualisticbehaviour, taking operational order from higher control and executing relevant plans. However,since a complex battlefield scenario typically involves thousands of entities, their coordinatedteam behaviour should also be considered to make the simulation more realistic. This paperdemonstrates the use of intelligent agent-based team behaviour modelling concepts in simulatingthe armoured tanks in a tactical masking scenario.

Effects of physical workload on cognitive task performance and situation awareness

Sixteen participants performed a military operations simulation directing loading of helicopters to weight capacity within an allotted timeframe and subject to a set of decision rules. The participants stood, walked or jogged on a treadmill while performing the simulated cognitive task. Task performance was measured in terms of helicopter loading rate and accuracy. Situation awareness (SA) was measured using a simulation freeze technique and SA queries. Subjective workload was measured using the NASA-TLX. Results indicated a general trend of decreasing SA with increasing physical workload for perceptual knowledge, comprehension and overall SA. Results also revealed higher subjective workload during jogging than during the walking and standing conditions. However, the physical workload manipulations did not appear to affect cognitive task performance. This study has practical implications for defining physical and cognitive workloads in specific dynamic, complex work environments to support operator SA and performance.

Computer Graphics-Based Models Of Target Detection: Algorithms, Comparison To Human Performance, And Failure Modes

Target detection is one of the fundamental phenomena that must be modeled in military simulations. When the target detection model fails, entities that should not be mutually aware engage, and entities that should fight ignore one another. The potential negative consequences for training and analysis are obvious. We describe three closely related computer graphics-based detection models for virtual simulation that can avoid some of the limitations of previous approaches. These models incorporate a standard target detection model, but feed it with more accurate target exposure and contrast data than has been done previously. Two variants of the base model attempt to improve the target contrast calculation and add color sensitivity. We compare the predictions of these models to human performance to show that the model variants have their intended effect. The performance of even the best models can deviate drastically from the performance of the human eye under some circumstances represented in our experiment. We lump these into categories as an aid to understanding the state of the art and to motivate future research.

A two-phase approach to interactivity enhancement for large-scale distributed virtual environments

Distributed virtual environments (DVEs) are distributed systems that allow multiple geographically distributed clients (users) to interact simultaneously in a computer-generated, shared virtual world. Applications of DVEs can be seen in many areas nowadays, such as online games, military simulations, collaborative designs, etc. To support large-scale DVEs with real-time interactions among thousands or even more distributed clients, a geographically distributed server architecture (GDSA) is generally needed, and the virtual world can be partitioned into many distinct zones to distribute the load among the servers. Due to the geographic distributions of clients and servers in such architectures, it is essential to efficiently assign the participating clients to servers to enhance users’ experience in interacting within the DVE. This problem is termed the client assignment problem (CAP) in this paper. We propose a two-phase approach, consisting of an initial assignment phase and a refined assignment phase to address the CAP. Both phases are shown to be NP-hard. Several heuristic assignment algorithms are then devised and evaluated via extensive simulations with realistic settings. We find that, even under heterogeneous environments like the Internet where accurate input data for the assignment algorithms are usually impractical to obtain, the proposed algorithms are still beneficial to the performances of DVE.

An integrated approach to high-level information fusion

In today’s fast paced military operational environment, vast amounts of information must be sorted out and fused not only to allow commanders to make situation assessments, but also to support the generation of hypotheses about enemy force disposition and enemy intent. Current information fusion technology has the following two limitations. First, current approaches do not consider the battlefield context as a first class entity. In contrast, we consider situational context in terms of terrain analysis and inference. Second, there are no integrated and implemented models of the high-level fusion process. This paper describes the HiLIFE (High-Level Information Fusion Environment) computational framework for seamless integration of high levels of fusion (levels 2, 3 and 4). The crucial components of HiLIFE that we present in this paper are: (1) multi-sensor fusion algorithms and their performance results that operate in heterogeneous sensor networks to determine not only single targets but also force aggregates, (2) computational approaches for terrain-based analysis and inference that automatically combine low-level terrain features (such as forested areas, rivers, etc.) and additional information, such as weather, and transforms them into high-level militarily relevant abstractions, such as NO-GO, SLOW-GO areas, avenues of approach, and engagement areas, (3) a model for inferring adversary intent by mapping sensor readings of opponent forces to possible opponent goals and actions, and (4) sensor management for positioning intelligence collection assets for further data acquisition. The HiLIFE framework closes the loop on information fusion by specifying how the different components can computationally work together in a coherent system. Furthermore, the framework is inspired by a military process, the Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield, that grounds the framework in practice. HiLIFE is integrated with a distributed military simulation system, OTBSAF, and the RETSINA multi-agent infrastructure to provide agile and sophisticated reasoning. In addition, the paper presents validation results of the automated terrain analysis that were obtained through experiments using military intelligence Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).