 | This article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject.(November 2019) |
A dynamic terrain is the representation of terrain (e.g. mountains, hills, valleys) together with the capability for modification during a simulation (e.g. a constructive soldier (i.e. battlespace entity) digging a trench). [1]
Dynamic terrain has been supported in military training simulations since the mid-1990s in the Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT), the first trainer in the Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (CATT) family of military training systems. At the time, the Institute for Simulation and Training (IST) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) had been researching the dynamic terrain requirements of networked military simulations, including excavation, clouds and other atmospheric events, and water flow. The complexity proposed by IST was computationally expensive and not practical for the technology available at that time. Therefore, CCTT implemented dynamic terrain events as dynamically placed features (DPFs) that described the terrain deformation, such as a tank ditch. Tank ditches are either 30, 60, 90, or 120 meters long and may be oriented in three dimensions. Since CCTT represents the terrain as an equally spaced elevation grid, terrain reasoning queries are adjusted based on the presence of a DPF. Nevertheless, the dynamic terrain implementation in CCTT caused a mismatch between the CCTT Semi-Automated Forces (SAF) and the visual display. The SAF reasons on the terrain and feature geometry, whereas the visual display focuses on presenting the terrain as a realistic scene. The difference between these two representations of the terrain is similar to the difference between feeling and seeing, therefore these representations store information in very different ways. [2] [3]
In the late 1990s, the Synthetic Theater of War (STOW) effort sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) provided the capability to communicate and apply terrain deformations but the implementation still required high-end platforms without satisfying real-time requirements. [4] The Dynamic Terrain Simulator (DTSim) was developed for the STOW Synthetic Environments (SE) program at the United States Army Corps of Engineers Army Geospatial Center (ASG) (formerly Topographic Engineering Center (TEC)). [5] Other applications reused the DTSim framework for more specific implementations of the dynamic terrain capabilities, for example RunwaySim, the Hydrogeologic Simulator (HydroSim), Dynamic Terrain Scribe (DTScribe), Dynamic Terrain Agent (DTAgent), and the Ultra-High Resolution Building Simulator (UHRB-Sim) [6] [7]
In 2003, the U.S.Army Research Laboratory (ARL) released documentation related to their Dynamic Terrain Server (DTServer). DTServer computes structural effects of detonations and collisions and transmits the result to client simulations, making sure that all simulators share a unified terrain database. DTServer also uses a table look-up to compute the effects of blasts and collisions. The DTServer provides terrain updates by issuing distributed interactive simulation (DIS) protocol data units (PDUs). DTServer sends DIS Set Data PDUs of the following types: Breach Subtract, Breach vertices, and Ding messages. DTServer also provides a graphical user interface (GUI) to inspect the state of the database. DTServer runs on three different databases: the terrain database, the object database, and the munitions database. The DIS interface has been successfully tested in the Soldier Visualization System (SVS), the After Action Review (AAR) system from IST, and the ARL DIS. [8]
There are current efforts to include dynamic terrain capabilities in One Semi-Automated Forces (OneSAF). The OneSAF Environment Runtime Component (ERC) updates presented in the 2009 OneSAF Users Conference mention that OneSAF 4.0 will include support for terrain deformation such as craters, tank defilades, infantry trenches, and breach holes in walls. OneSAF's dynamic terrain implementation will use a server to resolve dynamic terrain requests. [9] The U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) Simulation and Training Technology Center (STTC) is sponsoring the development of the Shared Architecture for Dynamic Environment (SHADE). SHADE will provide a framework to receive events, calculate effects, and transmit dynamic environment changes to participating applications. [10] These efforts will seek to address the dynamic terrain capability gap in modeling and simulation identified by the U.S. Army Training And Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Intelligence Support Activity (TRISA). [11]
A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in which simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the simulation represents the evolution of the model over time. Another way to distinguish between the terms is to define simulation as experimentation with the help of a model. This definition includes time-independent simulations. Often, computers are used to execute the simulation.
A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of flight controls, the effects of other aircraft systems, and how the aircraft reacts to external factors such as air density, turbulence, wind shear, cloud, precipitation, etc. Flight simulation is used for a variety of reasons, including flight training, the design and development of the aircraft itself, and research into aircraft characteristics and control handling qualities.
Driving simulators are used for entertainment as well as in training of driver's education courses taught in educational institutions and private businesses. They are also used for research purposes in the area of human factors and medical research, to monitor driver behavior, performance, and attention and in the car industry to design and evaluate new vehicles or new advanced driver assistance systems.
Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) is an IEEE standard for conducting real-time platform-level wargaming across multiple host computers and is used worldwide, especially by military organizations but also by other agencies such as those involved in space exploration and medicine.
SIMNET was a wide area network with vehicle simulators and displays for real-time distributed combat simulation: tanks, helicopters and airplanes in a virtual battlefield. SIMNET was developed for and used by the United States military. SIMNET development began in the mid-1980s, was fielded starting in 1987, and was used for training until successor programs came online well into the 1990s.
A synthetic vision system (SVS) is a computer-mediated reality system for aerial vehicles, that uses 3D to provide pilots with clear and intuitive means of understanding their flying environment.
Virtual Heroes, Inc. is a developer of serious games in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. It was founded in 2004.
Thales Training & Simulation Ltd. is a multinational company which manufactures simulators, including full flight simulators and military simulators, and provides related training and support services. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Thales Group.
Battlespace or battle-space is a term used to signify a military strategy which integrates multiple armed forces for the military theatre of operations, including air, information, land, sea, cyber and outer space to achieve military goals. It includes the environment, timeframe and other factors, and conditions that must be understood to successfully apply combat power, protect the force, or complete the mission. This includes enemy and friendly armed forces, infrastructure, weather, terrain, and the electromagnetic spectrum within the operational areas and areas of interest.
AVCATT is a mobile aviation training simulator developed by L-3 Communications, Link Simulation & Training for the United States Army in 2001. Entire units (suites) have been fielded.
In a synthetic environment, synthetic psychological environment (SPE) refers to the representation of influences to individuals and groups as a result of culture ).
The Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO) is an organization dedicated to the promotion of modeling and simulation interoperability and reuse for the benefit of diverse modeling and simulation communities, including developers, procurers, and users, worldwide.
Live, Virtual, & Constructive (LVC) Simulation is a broadly used taxonomy for classifying Modeling and Simulation (M&S). However, categorizing a simulation as a live, virtual, or constructive environment is problematic since there is no clear division among these categories. The degree of human participation in a simulation is infinitely variable, as is the degree of equipment realism. The categorization of simulations also lacks a category for simulated people working real equipment.
The United States Army Simulation and Training Technology Center (STTC) provides the United States Department of Defense and United States Department of Homeland Security, with applied research to develop simulation technologies, build on current simulation knowledge, and understand system of systems environments where human, agent, and teams are involved.
SimCraft, a privately held company headquartered just outside Atlanta, Georgia, is the creator and manufacturer of a proprietary motion simulation technology. Focused primarily on racing driver development, SimCraft technology has also been applied to flight as well as promising and pioneering health research on neuroplasticity restoration in cancer patients. The motion simulator technology, in development since 1998, was designed to recreate the manner in which vehicles move in earth physics. SimCraft offers a range of motion simulation products that provide a true tactile motion experience for Motorsport Simulation and flight simulation. The company's core innovation and technology is the simulation of movement through proprietary physics based software interfaces and a patent pending hardware architecture based on Center of Mass principles of motion. The company's product applications range principally by variation in chassis design and material and are found in usage from military training/research, medical research, neuroplasticity rehabilitation, professional training, entertainment, gaming enthusiast, and esports.
Mounted Warfare TestBed (MWTB) at Fort Knox, Kentucky, was the premier site for distributed simulation experiments in the US Army for over 20 years. It used simulation systems, including fully manned virtual simulators and computer-generated forces, to perform experiments that examined current and future weapon systems, concepts, and tactics.
Military Open Simulator Enterprise Strategy (MOSES) is a U.S. Army project evaluating the ability of OpenSimulator to provide independent and secured access to a virtual world.
MAK Technologies, formerly doing business as VT MAK, Inc. is a software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that provides commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) modeling and simulation software. The company develops and sells software for distributed simulations that system integrators, governments, and research institutions use to build and populate 3D simulated environments. Users include medical, aerospace, defense, and transportation industries. In addition to offering COTS software, MAK provides the following services: simulation content creation, software customization, interoperability, research and development, and training.
The Augmented Reality Sandtable (ARES) is an interactive, digital sand table that uses augmented reality (AR) technology to create a 3D battlespace map. It was developed by the Human Research and Engineering Directorate (HRED) at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) to combine the positive aspects of traditional military sand tables with the latest digital technologies to better support soldier training and offer new possibilities of learning. It uses a projector to display a topographical map on top of the sand in a regular sandbox as well as a motion sensor that keeps track of changes in the layout of the sand to appropriately adjust the computer-generated terrain display.