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Imagine you're a tank commander in the middle of an intense battle. A few moments ago, friendly tanks were on one side of the battlefield, and enemy tanks were on the other; but now, it seems that rounds are being fired from all directions. Up ahead, another tank is approaching, but through the haze, you can't tell if it is a friend or an enemy. If you fire on it, and it is a friend, you could be killing your own troops. But if you don't fire, and it is an enemy, it will fire on you. What are you going to do? This is a situation that could easily occur on the battlefield; therefore, the possibility of fratricide (harm from friendly fire) is an important concern during Army operations. To address this issue, the Combat Identification program is working on technology that will minimize the potential for fratricide, while increasing combat effectiveness. A goal of this program is the development of the Ground Integrated Target Identification System (GITIS), a concept for combining situation awareness data and point-of-engagement identification to provide the tank crew with the necessary information of friend or foe. In support of this program, MITRE has developed the GITIS Simulation Facility. This is a real-time, interactive, man-in-the-loop simulation, in which participants function as a crew on a simulated tank. This tank is provided with a particular set of potential combat identification devices, and a simulated battle is fought. The GITIS components available to the tank vary with each battle, and a set of battles is fought with each combination of components. The combat effectiveness of the tank is measured during each battle. This simulation facility has several purposes. One is to assess current and future combat identification technologies. If a set of battles is fought with the simulated tank equipped with a particular technology, and then another set of battles is fought without that technology, the contribution of that technology toward maximizing combat effectiveness and minimizing fratricide can be ascertained. Another purpose is to help develop new algorithms. If, for example, a particular algorithm can be implemented in one of several ways, these ways can be tested in the simulation facility while it is still easy to make changes. Also, the integration of combat identification systems can be explored. If two technologies are being considered for the combat identification role, perhaps neither can do the job by itself. However, when combined in a certain way they may work synergistically. An additional use for this facility is to plan field tests. In a simulation environment, many more trials can be conducted, and at a much lower cost, than at a field test. The results of the simulation can be used as an aid for determining how the field tests will be conducted, so the limited time and resources available can be used most efficiently. The current simulation incorporates several different technologies Battlefield Combat Identification System (BCIS), an Aided Target Recognition (ATR) system, and External (off-board) Cueing for providing near-real-time situation awareness. The BCIS is a millimeter wave question-and-answer system, which queries another platform via a narrow radio beam. If the interrogated platform is equipped with the BCIS hardware, it will emit a response. A received response tells the interrogator with great confidence that the interrogated platform has a BCIS unit, and is therefore a friend. If no response is received, however, it is not an indication of an enemy, only of a possible target that did not respond. The ATR is a system for computer recognition of targets, based on their thermal images. Unlike the BCIS, the ATR can identify a target as a friend, an enemy, or an unknown. However, because of the limitations of current technology, the ATR response is at a lower confidence level than the BCIS response. Furthermore, delays in the Tactical Internet, which relays situation awareness information to the tank, have been modeled so that the tank crew is provided with realistic situation awareness information. Future tests will include the development and evaluation of an algorithm for providing more current situation awareness information to the tank crew.
A third participant simulates the operator of a remote unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) ground station. The UAV is equipped with a moving target indicator radar and its own BCIS. Therefore, it relays to the ground station the coordinates of the moving vehicles in the battlefield, and which of those have responded to the BCIS query. This information is overlaid on a display of the battlefield. The operator knows the position of the simulated tank, and sees which unidentified vehicles are close by. He then relays the coordinates of the closest potential threat to the simulated tank. To run this simulation, seven high-end computers are connected by a local area network (LAN). The simulation itself is based on the Modular Semi-Automated Forces (ModSAF). One computer is used to fight the simulated battle. It maintains a record of the battlefield terrain and the entities on the battlefield, including their behaviors and positions. The entity information is sent out over the LAN via distributed interactive simulation protocol data units (PDUs). On another computer, a set of program modules creates the gunsight view. These modules are based on the Naval Postgraduate School Networked Vehicle Simulator. The tank maneuvers, resulting from the gunner' s joystick commands, are then relayed back to the ModSAF ground truth computer, so the simulated tank moves appropriately in the simulated battle. Another part of the program takes the PDU information and converts it to the appropriate message format for the Applique. Another aspect of this process is including situation awareness delays. In a real situation, the data about other platforms in the battlefield will be delayed, and may not appear at all. Therefore, by including these delays, the simulation is more realistic. Furthermore, we can study the effects of these delays. The PDU information is also relayed to the external cueing station module, so appropriate graphics can be created. This simulation has provided important information for the combat identification program. By analyzing various parameters such as the time between a platform appearing and time to begin firing, the combat effectiveness of the simulated tank can be measured. This data is important for the development of combat identification technology, and will influence the future directions of the program. You decide to fire on the approaching tank. You take aim, but just before firing, you initiate a BCIS query. The response is "friend," so you don't fire. A potential fratricide incident has been avoided, using combat identification technology. For more information, please contact Stephen Wiener using the employee directory. |
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The
tank simulation requires two participants: a commander and a gunner.
The commander has a display that shows icons representing the platforms,
both enemy and friendly, overlaid on a map of the battlefield. The commander's
responsibility is to interpret this map and direct the gunner. The gunner
maneuvers the tank with a joystick. He also aims the weapon, activates
the combat identification system, if there is one, and fires the weapon.
The gunner sees an "out of the gunsight" view, as shown in
the illustration. The view shows the terrain and other vehicles in the
line of sight. The two dark dots near the bottom are simulated Light
Emitting Diodes, and change color to show the BCIS and ATR response.