Defense Technology International - December 2007 - (Page 14)

TECH WATCH BILL SWEETMAN SIM FOR ALL “Half of today’s warﬁghters grew up with a game controller in their hands,” says Drew Lytle, group manager for Microsoft’s new ESP platform. “They’re ready to learn in this manner. Textbooks don’t cut it.” But traditional simulations don’t meet the need either. At this summer’s DarpaTech convention in Anaheim, Calif., the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency outlined a project called RealWorld to develop “simulation without software.” Modeling and simulation is in a rut, say Darpa and the U.S. Army, RealWorld’s sponsor. There are more needs than there is money or time to meet them, and traditional techniques don’t yield solutions fast enough. Darpa’s RealWorld program manager, Dan Kaufman, summed up the needs: “I want it tomorrow. I don’t want to spend more than an hour to learn the system. It must be deployable, preferably on a laptop, and be usable by every warﬁghter.” RealWorld, aimed at creating a system where any user can construct a custom simulation to rehearse a mission or for after-action review, is an ultimate solution—but it is still some way off. RealWorld is slated to transfer from the Army to Darpa in 2009 and go into development in 2010-15. In the meantime, Microsoft Corp. is moving into the gap with ESP. On the surface, Microsoft’s venture is a one-step evolution from the company’s 20-year-old Flight Simulator franchise and the convergence of two trends in simulation: increasing performance and higher ﬁdelity in consumer gaming software, and the migration of commercial and military simulation from specialized hardware to PCs. Indeed, the first release of ESP is aimed at military and commercial aviation training. Microsoft is selling and licensing the product as a platform on which software developers build training tools. ESP provides the developer with two components: a realistic, feature-rich outside environment, automatically adjustable for seasonal, weather and lighting conditions; and the ability to model vehicles, including cockpits, realistic system functions and handling characteristics—all of which have been done in the game-playing and experimental world for years. ESP connects with live weather sources and digital terrain data, supports 30 users at a time and can work with voiceover Internet protocol connections. Applications in aviation include basic ﬂight training, cockpit familiarization, procedures training and mission rehearsal, as well as research and development—for quicklook analysis of cockpit designs, for example, or even runway lights. Whether flight training with the system will count toward ofﬁcial crew qualiﬁcation is up to the developer, the end-user and military or civil authorities, says Lytle: “Microsoft is not going to approach certification standards, Avatar-centric means simulations that present human actors in a human-scale environment, rather than aircraft in the sky. One example in the commercial world suggests the size of the market as Microsoft sees it. “Think about a retail enterprise with 60,000-80,000 fork-lift drivers,” says Lytle. “They could use an immersive simulation environment to screen applicants.” Avatar-centric simulations have broader applications, including customer service. What does that have to do with the military? What’s the difference, in simulation terms, between a sixyear-old bursting around the corner of Aisle 22 straight into your Hyster U.S. AIR FORCE although developers can build out to certiﬁcation levels.” One reason for Microsoft’s entry into the training market is that the company saw a gap in affordability and “reachability” over the platforms used today, says Lytle. Reachability implies that the system is accessible, easily used and distributed over many desktops. Another is that the features developed for Flight Simulator have evolved to where they appeal to professional training and R&D end-users. The most important aspect of what Microsoft is doing, though, may not be apparent in the 1.0 release due to reach customers early next year. Simulation is simulation, on the ground or in the air. Future versions, which could roll out in a couple of years, “will expand into ground and maritime operations, indoor and avatar-centric simulations,” Lytle says. A U.S. Air Force electronic warfare ofﬁcer trains on a game-type simulator as part of Darpa’s RealWorld effort. E25Z and an AK-wielding terrorist behind a door? Or between the anxious, confused traveler across the desk and the guy in the Somali market who may have seen something important? The answer is not a lot. For the military user, though, it makes a great difference in the cost and availability of simulation technology. Flight Simulator has supported a host of independent developers who build applications and plug-ins that work in its virtual world , including almost every aircraft ever designed. In the same way, ESP could support a corps of product developers, able to build simulations quickly and inexpensively on the application—whether for Wal-Mart or Socom. I www.aviationweek.com/dti 14 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL DECEMBER 2007 http://www.aviationweek.com/dti

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Defense Technology International - December 2007 Contents Around the World Science Watch Tech Watch BrahMos: Ramjet Ship Killer r-e-s-p-e-c-t Deja Vu Trump Card Dubai Demos Agile Helos Joint Force Online Charge UGVs Creep, Crawl to Victory Sweet Ride Fast, Lethal Ship Defense Networking Stealth: Why Raptors Can't Talk The Net Cutting Edge First Person In Review Insight

Defense Technology International - December 2007

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