The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation: Applications,Methodology,Technology

Live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) simulation technologies are well-established in the areas of technology demonstration, mission rehearsal, and exercises. A promising new role for LVC simulation technology is to facilitate weapon systems testing by producing defendable results. Requirements to test new defense systems within a system-of-systems context and within joint force scenarios have placed demands on physical test ranges that are not likely to be met. The LVC testing option promises the breadth and depth of defense systems, either as real or simulated assets, to potentially meet the new test demands. However, leveraging this technology to support testing will require a shift in the approaches used by the LVC community. In this paper, we discuss the challenges facing the LVC testing initiative, both from an experimental and from an architectural and implementation standpoint.

Non-lethal weapons (NLWs) provide the warfighter with tools to effectively wage full spectrum operations, particularly in counterinsurgency, stability and support, and peace operations. However, it is widely recognized that evaluation of a NLW’s performance and effectiveness is problematic. The principal difficulty is that a NLW must be evaluated as both a non-lethal device (based on clinical testing methods of life science) and as a weapon (based on US Department of Defense (DoD) evaluation and testing methods of engineering and physics). This paper argues that live-virtual-constructive (LVC) methods constitute a critical component of a comprehensive research program on NLW effectiveness. In support of this contention, the article has three parts. Section 2 reviews briefly NLW effectiveness testing. This section will then present general LVC methods and the advantages they have over typical methods of evaluating NLW effects. Following this introduction, and in line with the intent of the special issue, an overview will be given on LVC methods as employed in NLW testing by the US Army’s Target Behavioral Response Laboratory (TBRL). Since its inception in 2004, the TBRL at Picatinny Arsenal has conducted comprehensive LVC studies on NLW effectiveness. These experiments examine NLW effectiveness against intended targets under controlled laboratory experimentation. A third component presents empirical quantitative results from LVC experimentation with NLW effectiveness in a crowd scenario. The article concludes with a brief summary of the use and particular benefits of LVC methods on NLW effectiveness testing.

The integration of systems of systems (SoS) associated with a flight training mission directly reflects the problem of developing a system engineering process for the design of live, virtual and constructive (LVC) experiments. Due to the complexity and disparity of the technology in a flight training SoS (FTSoS), modeling and analysis of architecture is becoming increasingly important. Relational Oriented Systems Engineering (ROSE) methodology is used to develop a framework for simulation and analysis of a navigational SoS for a typical aircraft. The framework can be used for both the prescription of navigation systems entering and exiting the SoS and for the analysis of pilot behavior as navigation quality of service (QoS) changes. ROSE offers a novel approach to developing a model-based systems engineering (MBSE) process for simulation and analysis of a complex SoS problem.

We present a case study that attempts to replicate the realism of a test range using a Live, Virtual and Constructive (LVC) simulation. Because resources are limited on a real test range, the Air Force Simulation and Analysis Facility at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, was tasked to build a simulation that emulated, to a high degree of fidelity, test range assets – the goal was to understand the impact of jamming on an enemy’s integrated air defense system. Before testing began, the simulated effects generated by the LVC simulation have to be viable, robust and realistic in order to provide credible data during later phases of experimentation. We present our approach to evaluating the correctness of the LVC simulation that considers sources of error associated with real-world radar measurements, errors caused by model abstraction and errors introduced due to real-time distributed simulation architectures, including shared state-space inconsistencies, coordinate conversion issues and a common time reference.

As unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) become more prevalent on the battlefield, ground forces will increasingly have to rely on them for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as target marking and overwatch operations. This paper presents the use of the Situational Awareness for Surveillance and Interdiction Operations simulation analysis tool in conjunction with the design and analysis of experiments to study aspects of UAVs’ surveillance characteristics in conjunction with ground-based interdiction teams to aid in increasing the number of targets cleared from the area of interest. Different teaming strategies and coordination measures between searching and interdicting assets are studied in order to understand the effectiveness of the interdictor possessing an organic tracker UAV. The objective of this research is to quantify the benefit or penalty of an additional UAV asset that is organic to a quick reaction force in the context of the overall surveillance and interdiction operation.

The research proposes the development of a simulation framework for assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of different alternative command, control, communications and computers (C4) solutions in an urban environment affected by asymmetric warfare. The authors present their approach in developing intelligent agents computer-generated forces (IA-CGF) in a non-conventional framework related to the project named CGF C4 IT. In the current military context, characterized by new asymmetric threats (i.e. terrorism, biological attacks) and affected by new technologies solutions, it is critical to measure the effectiveness of different command and control (C2) maturity models involving local and coalition forces, police and other resources in an overseas urban framework. As a matter of fact, this is one of the main goals of the CGF C4 IT project which is devoted to investigating alternative C2 models for guaranteeing agility in complex scenarios. The CGF C4 IT federation is a high level architecture simulator, designed by the authors, and currently devoted to supporting Italian Army simulation capabilities. This represents an innovative and effective solution for investigating, by experimental analysis, the C2 agility concepts within a complex framework with special attention to human behavior models.

The operational range and manoeuvrability of the modern infantry soldier is restricted by the overall load and bulk of equipment ranging from 50 to 75 kg. Today’s soldiers rely heavily on batteries to meet their power requirements, which make up 25% of the overall load. This results in a significant increase on soldier’s physical stress and cognitive burden. Recent developments in renewable energy, and more particularly the evolution of very thin and flexible wearable photovoltaic devices, provide promising solutions for the application of such technologies on the infantry soldier. However, since these flexible substrate devices are still under development or produced at a very small scale, their application and use has to be simulated prior to integrating to the infantry soldier. Such simulations need to take into account the specific requirements and different fields of operation of the infantry soldier, in the context of weather, date and time, global location and for different military mission environments. This paper presents a number of simulations performed for a wide range of scenarios in the context of the Solar Soldier project. It discusses the key results, offering a set of guidelines for the positioning and integration of such renewable energy technology on the modern infantry soldier. Moreover, this paper suggests future improvements on the methodology and optimisation of the procedures.

In the context of modern defense and security operations, analysts are faced with a continuously growing set of information of different nature that causes significant information overload problems and prevents developing good situation awareness. Fortunately, Visual Analytics (VA) has emerged as an efficient way of handling and making sense of massive datasets by exploiting interactive visualization technologies and human cognitive abilities. Defence R&D Canada has conducted a review of the applicability of VA to support military and security operations. This paper is meant to provide someone new to this area with a quick overview of the current state of the art in VA. We introduce the important scientific visualization, interaction and reasoning concepts supporting VA, followed by VA advanced techniques. Then, we describe how VA can contribute to the cyber security and intelligence analysis application domains, along with promising research projects and commercial software. Finally, we discuss the future of VA research.