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Project: Joint Terminal Control Training Rehearsal System (JTC TRS)
Client/Customer: Rockwell Collins and Nova Technologies
[BACKGROUND]
In 2007, mōsbē, the Modeling and Simulation Builder for Everyone, was selected by Rockwell Collins and used by Nova Technologies to provide a visualization framework for the Joint Terminal Control Training and Rehearsal System (JTC TRS). Project requirements were to provide a lightweight, laptop deployable, acceptable fidelity training solution for JTAC trainees with the goal of integrating distinct systems; including existing DoD simulations and custom components to support the JTC TRS requirements. These simulations represent varying levels of simulation fidelity and have a diverse range of functionality. The program needed an architecture that would allow for the management of all these different modules and components but support training from a common doctrine. mōsbē was sought as the capable solution for supporting these requirements.
The JTC TRS project challenged the development team at BreakAway to push the limits of the product and its underlying game-derived technology. The JTC TRS solution needed to be scalable, to act as a member of a federate sharing entities and effects among multiple applications via HLA; be configurable, to run on multiple user stations providing the appropriate end-user tools and perspective views; be interoperable, integrated into existing training modules; and be modular, using existing COTS and GOTS software solutions. The Phase One goal was to build a solution that operates on laptops for both an instructor and a trainee.
[REALIZING THE POTENTIAL OF GAME-BASED TECHNOLOGY]
The development effort undertaken by the mōsbē team demonstrated that the flexibility and modularity of game-based technology can provide a high fidelity, low overhead simulation environment. The work done on this project has produced significant contributions for the M&S community by demonstrating: 1)that a game-technology based simulation can act as a member of an HLA federate; 2)that as a member of a federate game-based technology products can both visualize inputs from other COTS and GOTS solutions and generate outputs back to them; and 3)that game-based simulations can provide an acceptable level of simulation fidelity for training while offering a deployable lightweight simulation.
The key requirement for mōsbē's application to this JTC TRS effort was to make displays and controls of mōsbē correlate with other system components by federating via HLA and exposing external programmatic control of the mōsbē application.
[FEDERATION]
Using the developed HLA interface, mōsbē was able to represent entities and events which are being defined and controlled by the mōsbē system and provide reactions to all accepted data from other systems at the same level of fidelity as an event native to mōsbē. The internal record/playback capability of mōsbē was also used to capture events and interactions communicated via HLA from the federation.
[VISUALIZATION]
Instead of switching between multiple stations during an exercise, mōsbē's visualization and control capabilities provide one common station for an instructor-in-the-loop exercise. For this project, mōsbē provides white cell and scenario editing capabilities allowing the instructor or manager of the simulation exercise to create the training scenario, monitor the simulation as it evolves, and add and delete entities to force training or experimentation requirements. mōsbē was able to replace multiple simulation programs eliminating the need for an instructor to rely on multiple work stations incorporating all necessary functionality into one application.
mōsbē generates the entities that populate the trainee station - in JTC TRS the visualization of these entities for the trainee is handled by the Acuity image generator. Acuity is visualizing all entities in federation for the trainee; mōsbē is visualizing all the entities for the instructor- while also generating entities, and controlling them, in the federation.
[EMBEDDING mōsbē]
In support of the JTC TRS effort, the development team also modified mōsbē so that it can be embedded in other applications and systems, and be launched and controlled by external systems. This allows information to pass back and forth programmatically between the external applications. The external application can run or shut down mōsbē; tell mōsbē what scenarios to run; ask for data from mōsbē; and send messages into mōsbē. This capability can be easily extended to include access to additional capabilities.
[NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR INTEGRATED TRAINING SYSTEMS]
The solution created as part of the JTC TRS project has applicability for any integrated training project. Using mōsbē, game-based tools can fit into a larger training picture enabling operational leaders, mission planners, instructors and scenario designers, to share a common operating picture with strategic commanders and individual trainees without building custom simulations and tools at each level in the training process.
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