Military Simulation Research Articles

Modeling and integration of situational awareness and soldier target search

Representation of search and target acquisition (STA) in military models and simulations arguably abstracts the most critical aspects of combat. This research focuses on the search aspect of STA for the unaided human eye. It is intuitive that an individual’s environmental characteristics and interpretation of the environment in the context of all comprehended information, commonly summarized as their situational awareness (SA), influences attention and search. Current simulation models use a primitive sweeping search method that devotes an unbiased amount of time to every area in an entity’s field of regard and neglects the effects of SA. The goal of this research is to provide empirical results and recommend modeling approaches that improve the representation of unaided search in military models and simulations. The major contributions towards this goal include novel empirical results from two incremental eye-tracking experiments, analysis and modeling of the eye-tracking data to illustrate the effect of the environment and SA on search, and a recommended model for unaided search for high-fidelity combat simulation models. The results of this work support soldier search models driven by metrics that summarize the threat based on environmental characteristics and contextual information.

A computational model for human eye-movements in military simulations

Models of eye movements of an observer searching for human targets are helpful in developing accurate models of target acquisition times and false positive detections. We develop a new model describing the distribution of gaze positions for an observer which includes both bottom-up (salience) and top-down (task dependent) factors. We validate the combined model against a bottom-up model from the literature and against the bottom up and top down parts alone using human performance data on stationary targets. The new model is shown to be significantly better. The new model requires a large amount of data about the terrain and the target that is obtained directly from the 3D simulation through an automated process.

Life Cycle VV&A Simulation Modeling Process Based on Validation

Simulation modeling VV&A is verification, validation and accreditation. In the field of petrochemical industry, focus of VV&A still lays on the model validation, and people always do appropriate model verification, validation work after model development. It does not yet formed a complete hierarchy or framework for effective implementation of life cycle VV&A. This paper referenced the research achievement of military simulation modeling and test-driven software development technology, introduced the modeling VV&A technology into the whole life of the model development. Simulation modeling process based on validation discussed in this paper is totally based on validation, and it is carried out closely around VV&A from appearance of the first idea to the final application. As a result, people can completely control the whole process of model development. At the same time of improving model accuracy, reliability and credibility, such process could greatly improve the efficiency of model development and effectively reduce the model development period. And this process can be also applied to system-level, complex object.

AR Sand Table with VSTAR System

We have proposed a three-dimensional sand table based on the video see-through tabletop augmented reality (VSTAR) system. The hybrid registration algorithm is used combining marker-based OI iterative computer vision method and photoelectric encoders mechanical tracking method instead of computer vision method only, which makes tracking does not dependent on markers, so that the tracking field of vision is not limited to the scope of markers. The system is of high precision and can be used for architecture design show, military topography simulation, museum exhibition and other virtual sand table applications.

Modeling of an airborne torpedo attack and implementation on a simulation environment

Airborne torpedoes are effective weapons that are used against surface and subsurface entities. A carrying platform, which may be a helicopter or plane, drops the weapon with or without a parachute. After a travelling period in the air, the torpedo hits the water and penetrates through it, forming a splash and a cavity. The initial conditions for the movement of the torpedo in the water are produced as a result of velocity at the water entrance and pitch angle and resistance force generated by the water itself. Under the water, the weapon transforms through its internal phases with the aim of a possible target hit. In this work, a certain part of the developed military training simulator is given in order to investigate an airborne torpedo attack scenario. For this purpose, aircraft and torpedo dynamic models, as well as guidance and control laws, are derived; torpedo fall and water entry analyses are also performed. Simulation results are given for each model and/or analysis separately. Modules and libraries for these model simulations are integrated into the component architecture of a commercial computer-generated forces toolkit simulation engine, namely VR-Forces. An original control architecture that is able to manage a wide variety of simulation components with different infrastructures has also been realized.

Special Issue: Highlighting the military modeling and simulation work at the Systems Modeling and Simulation Laboratory at KAIST

Special Issue: Highlighting the military modeling and simulation work at the Systems Modeling and Simulation Laboratory at KAIST

Research on Modeling Virtual Battlefield Based-On Ontology

Ontology is applied to agent modeling and reasoning is one approach for research on agents. Modeling virtual battlefield based-on ontology is proposed to support computer generated forces base-on agent technology. Researches of ontology being applied to military modeling and environment modeling are analyzed. The virtual battlefield ontology model is presented. The model includes four domains: nature environment, physical objects, situation and operation plan. Models of the four domain ontology are built. The model provides consistent semantic representation and common understanding for knowledge sharing in military simulation and computer generated forces.

가상군(Computer-Generated Forces)의 자율지능화 방안 연구

최근 군은 과거 냉전시대와 다른 상황에 능동적으로 대처하고 비용 대비 훈련의 효과를 극대화하기 위한 방안으로 모델링 시뮬레이션 기법에 많은 관심을 보이고 있다. 이 모델링 시뮬레이션을 이용한 훈련이 효과적이기 위해서는 좀 더 사실적인 전장 환경과 전투상황을 모의해야 하는데, 최근에 이를 위해서 컴퓨터상에서 인간 행위와 부대의 집단논리를 표현하는 CGF(Computer Generated Forces)에 대한 기술 개발이 주목받고 있다. 인간 행위를 모델링하는 CGF는 자동화된 병력을 모의함으로써 적군을 모의하거나 미래 전투실험, 새로운 전투개념 개발 등 중요하면서도 다양한 역할을 수행 할 수 있다. 이번 연구에서는 CGF 가상군인의 자율지능화의 방안을 고찰해보고자 한다. 군사시뮬레이션상의 가상군인의 자율지능화의 첫걸음인 과업행위 목록의 적용을 과업행위의 기본요소인 METT+T를 기반으로 그 적용과정을 설명한다. 또한 군사모의 논리는 참 진의 이진값 표현이 외에도 '보유 무기가 충분하면 급속 공격을 빠르게 하라'와 같은 모의 규칙상에서는 군사 전문가에 의해서 결정될 수밖에 없는 '충분하다', '빠르다'와 같은 퍼지 팩트가 존재한다. 이러한 주관성이 가미된 많은 군사모의 논리를 완벽히 표현하기 위해서는 퍼지 추론을 이용하는 것이 효과적인데, 이를 이번 소부대 전투 시뮬레이션에 적용하여 보다 사실적인 모의가 가능하도록 하였다. Modeling and Simulation(M&S) technology gets an attention from various parts such as industry and military. Especially, military uses the technology to cope with a different situation from the one in the Cold War and maximize the effect of training against the cost in the new environment. In order for the training based on M&S technology to be effective, the situations of a battlefield and a combat must be more realistically simulated. For this, a technique development on Computer-Generated Forces(CGF) which represents a unit's simulation logic and a human's simulated behaviors is focused. The CGF simulating a human's behaviors can be used in representing an enemy force, experimenting behaviors in a future war, and developing a new combat idea. This paper describes a methodology to accomplish Computer-Generated Forces' autonomous intelligence. It explains the process of applying a task behavior list based on the METT+T element onto CGFs. On the other hand, in the domain knowledge of military field manual, fuzzy facts such as "fast" and "sufficient" whose real values should be decided by domain experts can be easily found. In order to efficiently implement military simulation logics involved with such subjectivity, using a fuzzy inference methodology can be effective. In this study, a fuzzy inference methodology is also applied.

Modeling and simulation of pedestrian behaviors in crowded places

Pedestrian simulation has many applications in computer games, military simulations, and animation systems. A realistic pedestrian simulation requires a realistic pedestrian behavioral model that takes into account the various behavioral aspects of a real pedestrian. In this article, we describe our work on such a model, which aims to generate human-like pedestrian behaviors. To this end, various important factors in a real-pedestrian's decision-making process are considered in our model. These factors include a pedestrian's sensory attention, memory, and navigational behaviors. In particular, a two-level navigation model is proposed to generate realistic navigational behavior. As a result, our pedestrian model is able to generate various realistic behaviors such as overtaking, waiting, side-stepping and lane-forming in a crowded area. The simulated pedestrians are also able to navigate through complex environment, given an abstract map of the environment.

Critical Problems in Validation Process of Simulation Models

Simulation models are increasingly being used to solve more and more complex problems and to aid in decision-making. To provide a realistic and confident simulation environment for users, simulation models have become key components in military simulations. This paper discusses the modeling nature of simulation models, and then the modified validation criteria for measuring the agreements between Subject Matter Experts and simulation models are presented. Furthermore, validation methods such as graphical comparison, feature analysis, face validation, confidence interval and hypothesis tests of three types errors, are discussed according to the validation metrics of simulation models. Simulation models could be validated based on the proposed validation process effectively. The proposed process could be applied to the simulation systems and solve many VV&A difficulties. Example of the mass moment missile, illustrates the validity of the proposed process.

A Modified Statistical Process Control Approach for Warm-up Selection in Discrete-Event Simulation

HLA-based simulation systems are multivariate discrete-event simulation systems, and sometimes with small samples in essential, for which exists initial transient issue. Simulation models begin in fixed initial values, which are always different from the steady state values. A variety of selection methods have been developed these years, but no one method could be recommended above others. Among these methods, the familiar statistical process control method is a popular way to deal with the warm-up selection, with the deficiency for multivariate and small samples. Based on SPC, individuals and moving range, multivariate exponentially weighted moving average chart for Individuals and Hotelling T2 method, a modified SPC method is proposed. The case of military domain simulation scenario and some empirical experiments, illustrate the validity of the modified SPC method.

An Automated Virtualization Performance Analysis Platform

This research compares three traditional categories of virtualization to a technique known as hybrid virtualization. Each technique is evaluated in terms of both capability and performance. The traditional methods of platform virtualization such as full virtualization, paravirtualization and operating system virtualization each comes with its own set of capabilities and engineering trade-offs. Hybrid virtualization attempts to leverage the benefits of full and operating system virtualization by allowing virtual machines of each type of virtualization to run simultaneously on the same host machine. This research measures the time required for each virtualization technique to perform a workload inside virtual machines as the number of virtual machines running the workload scales. This performance data will help determine the usefulness of the hybrid technique in building a military cyber warfare training simulation environment based on virtualization. The goal is to determine which technique is capable of supporting large-scale environments required by realistic network training scenarios. The capability evaluation results indicate that hybrid virtualization successfully leverages the benefits of its two virtualization components while minimizing the trade-offs of each individual technique. The performance results indicate that the performance of each virtualization technique differs significantly relative to the workload applied. Some workloads saw no significant differences in performance between techniques. However, in the workloads that did show significant difference, the hybrid technique performed as well as or better than full virtualization or operating system virtualization alone. This leads to the conclusion that hybrid virtualization is a viable candidate as the basis for a military cyber warfare simulation and training environment.

Virtual Reality Stroop Task for neurocognitive assessment.

Given the prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI), and the fact that many mild TBIs have no external marker of injury, there is a pressing need for innovative assessment technology. The demand for assessment that goes beyond traditional paper-and-pencil testing has resulted in the use of automated cognitive testing for increased precision and efficiency; and the use of virtual environment technology for enhanced ecological validity and increased function-based assessment. To address these issues, a Virtual Reality Stroop Task (VRST) that involves the subject being immersed in a virtual Humvee as Stroop stimuli appear on the windshield was developed. This study is an initial validation of the VRST as an assessment of neurocognitive functioning. When compared to the paper-and-pencil, as well as Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics versions of the Stroop, the VRST appears to have enhanced capacity for providing an indication of a participant's reaction time and ability to inhibit a prepotent response while immersed in a military relevant simulation that presents psychophysiologically arousing high and low threat stimuli.

Plato's CAVE — Knowledge-Based Medicine Or Black Swan Technology?

Overview Plato's CAVETM is a presurgical planning, multidimensional “life space situation room” designed, developed, and introduced to clinical practice by the Department of Radiation Oncology at The Methodist Hospital, located in Houston's Texas Medical Center. At approximately 500 square feet, Plato's CAVE was specifically designed to permit a team of physicians to review all available diagnostic images of the patient (Figures 1a, 1b). The initial clinical focus was for interventions within the domain of surgical oncology, including radiation therapy, reconstructive surgery, and organ transplantation. This advanced clinical visualization process, supported by a novel and creative assemblage of FDA-approved, commercially available diagnostic imaging components, is available for all relevant patient care services within The Methodist Hospital System. The underlying concept is that of a military flight simulator. As opposed to a commercial flight simulator, a fighter pilot environment is a multi-body simul...

Morphable crowds

Crowd simulation has been an important research field due to its diverse range of applications that include film production, military simulation, and urban planning. A challenging problem is to provide simple yet effective control over captured and simulated crowds to synthesize intended group motions. We present a new method that blends existing crowd data to generate a new crowd animation. The new animation can include an arbitrary number of agents, extends for an arbitrary duration, and yields a natural-looking mixture of the input crowd data. The main benefit of this approach is to create new spatio-temporal crowd behavior in an intuitive and predictable manner. It is accomplished by introducing a morphable crowd model that allows us to encode the formations and individual trajectories in crowd data. Then, its original spatio-temporal behavior can be reconstructed and interpolated at an arbitrary scale using our morphable model.

Improvement on Navigation Behavior Algorithm of Agent in Visual Simulation

In the visual simulation system, especially large visual game or military simulation training systems, the navigation behavior of agent controls movement of agent through a series of actions response to external environment. The combination of multiple navigation behaviors can create complex behaviors of agent. In the current commonly used behavior determination methods, the combination of different behaviors may cause unreasonable result in some circumstance. Based on navigation behavior, the paper brought out an improved algorithm for navigation behavior of agents, which used heuristic method to balance the local and global behavior priority level, so that the selection of navigation behavior is more reasonable.

Realistic Fireteam Movement in Urban Environments

Realistic simulations of the movement of infantry in urban environments with 3D models and at interactive rates is of wide and enduring interest. Many video games have attempted it, and military simulations are increasingly doing the same. Previous attempts have fallen short in two areas: properly coordinating movement, and adequate modeling of the detection of hostile targets. Novel algorithms to simulate fireteam movement and visual scanning appropriate to urban environments are described. Measurements of the computational performance of the most expensive components of the approach are provided.

Effect of cognitive load on speech prosody in aviation: Evidence from military simulator flights

Mental overload directly affects safety in aviation and needs to be alleviated. Speech recordings are obtained non-invasively and as such are feasible for monitoring cognitive load. We recorded speech of 13 military pilots while they were performing a simulator task. Three types of cognitive load (load on situation awareness, information processing and decision making) were rated by a flight instructor separately for each flight phase and participant. As a function of increased cognitive load, the mean utterance-level fundamental frequency (F0) increased, on average, by 7 Hz and the mean vocal intensity increased by 1 dB. In the most intensive simulator flight phases, mean F0 increased by 12 Hz and mean intensity, by 1.5 dB. At the same time, the mean F0 range decreased by 5 Hz, on average. Our results showed that prosodic features of speech can be used to monitor speaker state and support pilot training in a simulator environment.

Behavioral representation in modeling and simulation: Introduction to CMOT special issue—BRiMS 2009

1 June 2011 The BRiMS Society and Conference (Behavioral Representation in Modeling and Simulation (BRiMS, brimsconference.org) promote cross-disciplinary communication for basic and applied scientific research in the realm of modeling and simulation of human behavior, with a particular emphasis on defense government-related tasks and behavior. Thus, the BRiMS conference brings together scientists, engineers, practitioners, and application users to discuss modeling behavior ranging from that of individuals to the behavior of whole societies, their interactions, and their implications. For a few days each year, we get to meet to share ideas and experiences, identify gaps in current capabilities, discuss new directions, highlight promising technologies, and showcase applications. This special issue is similar to our previous special issue (Kennedy, Ritter, & Best, 2010) in that it includes four papers based on the award winning conference papers of the 2010 annual conference, reviewed and extended to journal article length. The papers include a new model integrating top-down and bottom-up factors affecting visual target acquisition (Jungkunz & Darken, 2011), the application of a statistical methodology to modeling psychological and cognitive impacts of protective clothing (Mueller et al., 2011), the use of fuzzy cognitive mapping techniques to model situation awareness (Jones et al., 2011), and the challenge of exploration and optimization of cognitive models (Moore, 2011). Overall, they represent how the 2010 conference addressed modeling from small-scale models, for example, predicting eye movements, to large-scale parameter exploration using high-performance computing facilities. At the small-scale end of the range of these papers, Patrick Jungkunz and Christian Darken present models of eye movements during target acquisition in military simulations. They found that a relevance map performed better than a salience map and that scene locations that are semantically relevant predict human eye fixations better than just visual salience. However, the combined approach was not statistically better than the relevance map alone. Their work identified semantically relevant scene locations as the most significant factor in predicting eye fixations and they developed a novel method that supports direct extraction of that information directly from the simulation environment. This work is important for simulations because they too often assume that models can see everything (Ritter, Baxter, Jones, & Young, 2000). Not seeing everything or seeing things that are trying not to be seen is important in adversarial simulations (Best & Gerhart, 2011). The second paper concerns the predicting the impact of the psychological and cognitive stressors on performance. Shane Mueller, Benjamin Simpkins, George Anno, Corey Fallon, Gene McCellan, and Owen Price of Applied Research Associates, report on the

Team Perceived Trustworthiness in a Complex Military Peacekeeping Simulation

Antecedents to trust (propensity to trust, perceived trustworthiness) and trust behaviors were examined in relation to team performance in a complex eight-mission military peacekeeping simulation. Teams were colocated or distributed and stayed in the same or transferred to a different context at task transfer. In Experiment 1, an ability and competence factor accounted for most of the variance in perceived trustworthiness and greater perceptions of teammates' abilities/competences predicted posttransfer performance. One's perception of how others perceived one's ability/competence increased over missions. In Experiment 2, propensity to trust did not predict performance; however, trust in others' and one's own ability/competence and trust behaviors predicted performance. At task and/or context transfer, teams produced more monitoring and less cooperating language in their communication.