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The TIM was used to train the 4th Infantry Division in preparation for the Task Force XXI Advanced Warfighter Experiment (AWE), an experiment demonstrating the power of computers and digital information technologies on the battlefield. In the past, units trained in the SIMNET facility with perfect communications between units in the simulators. However, it was very important that the 4th Infantry Division train with the latency (time delays in delivering digital messages) inherent in the tactical internet, and with realistic communications effects for both voice and data communications. Otherwise, the soldiers' training would be misleading in that when they got to the field with actual equipment, they would not be prepared for the communications delays. In 1998, MITRE augmented the TIM's capabilities by developing a Situational Awareness (SA) Server that generates Variable Message Format (VMF) SA message traffic from entities that exist only in simulation (non-role-played entities). The SA Server then delivers the messages to the role-played entities' Applique through the TIM. The Navigation Warfare (NAVWAR) Program The TIM and the SA Server were used in the NAVWAR Global Positioning System (GPS)-DIS man-in-the-loop experiment in November 1997 at Fort Knox. The mission of the NAVWAR program is to evaluate the impact of GPS denial (due to jamming) on military operations, and then recommend how to restore the operational effectiveness. The problem is that if the GPS signal is jammed, the GPS receiver cannot receive the signal from the satellite. Initially, if the jamming signal is weak, the result will be an error in the position calculated by the GPS receiver. If the jamming is strong enough, the GPS receiver will not be able to acquire the signal. If the receiver has initially acquired the signal, and is then jammed, the receiver may dead-reckon (that is, continue giving position information based on the last-known position, speed, and heading). If the signal is jammed when the receiver is initially turned on, the receiver will give no position at all. For a user of Applique, the position of the user on his map (and the position of other users reporting their positions) will be wrong. Each military service is to assess the impacts of denied GPS on several key platforms, and, for the Army, the tank is one of their key platforms. MITRE recommended that the impact of denied GPS on tactical maneuver operations could be best assessed by running a man-in-the-loop experiment using the SIMNET virtual tank simulators to see if soldiers in maneuver operations could get the job done in the presence of denied GPS. To assess the impacts of denied GPS on battalion-sized operations, the SA Server was used to generate situational awareness messages from entities representing three companies that existed only in simulation. Two helicopter simulators located at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and four virtual tank simulators, a Battalion operations officer, and a fuel truck simulator located at Fort Knox, Kentucky, were instrumented with Applique's and the TIM. The Fort Knox and Fort Rucker networks were connected via a T1 line. A Company Commander and his three platoon leaders operated the four virtual tank simulators. They were commanded by the operations officer who used a tabletop Applique to view his units' positions. The operations officer issued enemy contact reports to his role-played units based on reports issued by the Modular Semi-Automated Forces (ModSAF) simulation operators. The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command provided a high-fidelity model of GPS and jammers that enabled seven different scenarios to be run over National Training Center terrain in the presence of high, medium, and no jamming of the GPS signal (the NAVWAR experiment is shown in the illustration on page seven). Although the final results of the GPS-DIS experiment have not been published, MITRE has helped the Army evaluate the impact of denied GPS on one of their key platforms, and MITRE has helped to develop a state-of-the-art simulation environment that links Command and Control systems with simulations for testing and experimentation. This environment enables the Army to cost-effectively evaluate how real soldiers will react to and use new technologies under a variety of conditions. The importance of this prototype environment is that it can be used to assess many new technologies being considered for the Joint Services' digitization initiatives. What's Next? This environment will continue to evolve. Specifically, it may be used to provide realistic communications and networking effects when FBCB2 (Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below), which is the next generation of the Applique program, is integrated in the Close Combat Tactical Trainer (the next generation, state-of-the-art virtual simulator that will be used for Army maneuver training in the near future). This environment will also continue to be used by the Simulation Testing Operations Rehearsal Model (STORM) program, which will use the TIM and SA Server to participate in the FBCB2 Field Test 1 and the Limited User Test during the summer of 1998. The STORM program will then stimulate the live units during the FBCB2 Initial Operational Test and Experimentation in 1999. For more information, please contact John McConnell using the employee directory. |
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The
tactical internet provides the communications and networking to support
Force XXI, which is a remaking of America's Army. Many parts of the
tactical internet are new and complex, which means that evaluating new
protocols for the tactical internet, as well as training soldiers in
the use of the new capabilities, offers significant challenges. The
Tactical Internet Model (TIM) developed by MITRE helps to meet these
challenges in a Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) environment
that can be tailored and monitored. In addition, new and upgraded tactics
and procedures can be more readily evaluated, since the TIM connects
to real Command and Control systems used by the Army. The TIM accurately
models the Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System and the Enhanced
Position Location Reporting System. These two systems form the communications
backbone of the tactical internet. The TIM is currently integrated with
eighteen virtual simulators at the Simulation Network (SIMNET) training
facility in Fort Hood, Texas; and with four virtual simulators at the
Mounted Warfare Testbed facility in Fort Knox, Kentucky.