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Training and Simulation
Software Used to Measure Value of Simulations
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By Grace V. Jean
The Defense Department is seeking better ways to determine whether expensive virtual training exercises are worth the investment.
The Air Force Research Laboratory in Mesa, Ariz., is examining how to increase the effectiveness of the Air Force’s virtual flags. Those are training events in which airmen flying in simulators at their home bases are linked into a networked environment where additional friendly and enemy forces are generated by computers to battle in a simulated war. Tracking performance data in these exercises is a difficult and time-consuming process because of the sheer number of players and the variety and vintages of simulations involved, experts say.
In support of the lab’s research, a Woburn, Mass.-based company called Aptima is developing software that will be integrated with existing simulation assessment tools and pull in information from multiple sources, including simulator data, notes from observer-controllers who are monitoring the trainees and feedback from the trainees themselves.
“No one source of data can provide the full story,” says Mike Paley, executive vice president. “We’re trying to take all the existing data that’s out there and integrate them.”
STASH — the system for tracking, assessing and standardizing human performance — combines, converts and interprets the raw data streams from all of the participants and displays the information on a “dashboard” view.
In a car dashboard, the driver sees information about the vehicle’s performance. In the STASH, exercise officials will see information on different training objectives, such as communications coordination and weapons engagement.
The information will offer instructors an integrated picture of individual and team performance in such exercises, officials say.
For example, in a virtual training event in which four friendly fighters have to engage six enemy fighters in air-to-air combat, much of the training lies not in whether the enemy fighters were shot down, but whether the internal communications among the flight lead, the wingmen and the airborne warning and control aircraft crew was adequate, says Paley. Attaining that information can give trainers and the exercise designers a good idea of how well the training is going and what needs to be addressed in the future.
Aptima has received a phase II small business innovation research contract from the Air Force lab to continue developing the product.
“The innovation is the integration,” says Paley.
Parts of the tool have been employed at the research lab and at the combined air operations center at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., which participates in virtual flag exercises run out of Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
In a separate program, the company also is looking to make its tools compliant with the Navy's aviation simulation master plan program, which is aiming to improve distributed mission training by standardizing tools and simulations. Aptima wants to be able to link into the system to pull data into their performance measurement system beginning with the Navy's submarine-hunting aircraft replacement program, the P-8 Poseidon multi-mission aircraft being built by Boeing.
Paley says the goal is to have STASH ready for implementation by next fall. It will deploy on a four-ship flight simulator at AFRL Mesa and eventually will migrate to the combined air operations center at Nellis.
“We’re all pretty excited about this particular project because we know this is what ultimately needs to happen to get broader use and application for these tools,” says Paley.
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