Embedded Simulation, Training at its Best.

Computer-based training systems ranging from basic aids to high fidelity simulators can enable soldiers, sailors or airmen to receive instruction in the classroom where they may benefit from often highly realistic simulation. There is no doubt that the very best of these training aids can totally engage many participants to the paint where they will sweat, experience an increased pulse-rate and bursts of adrenaline when the going gets really tough.

Classroom devices are only substitutes for the real thing, which, nevertheless, if too expensive to be used just for training, may oblige the use of such alternatives. Undaunted by this dilemma, many compromises have been reached whereby users may train on their actual everyday equipment, so that should a real shooting war begin, they will be thoroughly versed in its use.

The temporary modification of a weapon to a training role or embedded software in a larger and more complex system is widely recognised to be one of the most effective means of delivering instruction. Indeed, it is often possible for an exercise to be conducted on the combat suite of a warship without it having to leave port. Or even by driving a mobile anti-aircraft missile system into a dome may "hands on" practice be experienced, while fighters, carrying a suitable electronic pod over an exercise area, can provide pilots with a realistic combat scenario. In each case, mission analysis is a key element of the training package.

In yet a different environment it has become commonplace for military air traffic control systems to incorporate a facility to enable fighter interception procedures to be practised. Indeed, almost any computer-based system that is controlled from a monitor can have the appropriate software installed so operators may engage in hands-on training. However, such a capability is strictly an add-on feature and not to be compared to the dedicated ATC and naval tactical simulators designed specifically to replicate operational systems.

Nevertheless, operator training will be a requirement for the reconfigurable common workstations equipping tomorrow's maritime patrol and airborne early warning and control systems. Flight crew training in the actual aircraft must be judged essential and while provision will be made for airborne control systems to grow with future mission requirements, so too will embedded training have to be assured.

Rangeless aircraft training systems are increasingly accepted as the most efficient form of embedded training for combat aircraft and Cubic Defense Systems was a pioneer of this type of aid. In the latest versions, the use of a GPS-based air combat instrumentation pod enables aircraft fitted with air combat manoeuvring instrumentation (ACMI) to work in any airspace without the need for special ground facilities. The pod is about the size of an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile and up to 36 aircraft may participate together in rangeless training.

Cubic Defense Systems is part of an international team selected by the British Ministry of Defence as the preferred bidder for its Rangeless Airborne Instrumented Debriefing Systems (Raids). Led by Matra BAe Dynamics' Business Development and Programme divisions, the Raids has an in-service date of the end of 2002 and the team also includes MLM, the Electronics Division of Israel Aircraft Industries. Meanwhile, the Metric Systems Corporation is currently producing Urits (the US Air Forces in Europe Rangeless Interim Training System), which combines accurate tracking of pod-equipped aircraft with high-power long-range data link transceivers.

The company's integrated display and debriefing system accesses a solid state device that records up to 220 megabytes of digital data. The Urits pod has been acquired by the US Air Force to equip F-15, F-16 and A-10 units throughout Europe and the Middle East.

Now absorbed into the Saab Technologies group, Celsius has also developed an airborne recording and analysis system, which records the flight path in 3D, flight instrument readings, sensors and weapon switching. During debriefing, it is possible to switch views from one aircraft to another (from the interceptor to the target for example), adding to the training value of each exercise.

An American-Dutch team comprising Lockheed Martin, Fokker Space and the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory is developing embedded training (ET) for Joint Strike Fighter pilots. Said to promise more realism than ground-based simulations, ET aims to obviate the need for the acquisition of additional aircraft for training purposes. ET will enable the pilot to engage a training mode during flight while presenting a training simulation on the cockpit displays. As the pilot will experience the actual stresses and environment of flight manoeuvres ET will increase training fidelity.

Modified ammunition may be regarded as being on the fringe of embedded simulation but it can, nevertheless, permit the safe use of weapons in environments where standard rounds could not be used. The 20 mm TP-R3 ammunition developed by Nammo for use with M39, M61 A1 and M61A2 guns reduces ricochet risk and future applications may include 25 mm, 27 mm and 30 mm rounds.

The most common form of embedded simulation is to be found among the wide range of laser-based training systems produced in several countries around the world and mostly for ground-based weapons. Some of these feature replica weapons, but those that make use of the weapon itself are arguably the most effective. Most systems employ an interface kit to adapt the weapon to a simulator role, although the insertion of a sub-calibre firing device is another method of turning a gun, missile launcher or mortar into a simulator.

However, replica weapons are often employed at training centres and, provided they exactly replicate the original in terms of weight, recoil etc, few would dispute that the standard of training they deliver is any less than that provided by a real weapon. While replicas clearly have a place, the advantage of using an add-on system on a standard issue is that instruction can be provided almost anywhere and the weapon returned to operational status on completion of training.

Produced by RH-Alan, the Simtrend simulator is typical of many add-on systems that have been devised to provide anti-tank missile training. In service with the Croatian Army, this system uses real launchers such as the AT-7 Saxhorn, although it can be modified for use with other weapons with saclos guidance systems. The instructor station for the Simtrend simulator is portable and of desktop proportions to enable classroom training to be provided. The Simtrend is marketed by Lair, which also produces anti-aircraft gun simulators including a laser-based system that can be fitted to all types of weapons including artillery.

Finland's Instrumentointi is another company that is small by industry leader standards but nevertheless one that has developed a number of training systems to satisfy local needs. These too have been developed for classroom use but the company's Amsi 90 gun simulator has been designed to be mounted on 23 mm and 40 mm guns, although the system is modelled on and devised for replicas used in a classroom environment.

Kollsman is an American company long active in the training market, its Tow gunnery trainer making use of a real launcher to which a box is fitted in place of the normal sight. Kollsman collaborates closely with Simtech, an Israeli company that in fact produced the Tow trainer for its United States' affiliate and has formed Simagine in the Netherlands to aid further penetration of world markets. These companies have also teamed on some air defence trainers including the Vulcan Troop Proficiency Trainer that makes use of a student interface which mounts over the gunner's sight. Similar systems have been developed for use on 20 mm and 23 mm air defence cannons.

While many indoor training systems are based on replica weapons, others, such as the Shorts S1 Mat multi-arms trainer, make use of real weapons to which laser projectors are attached. The S1 Mat provides for up to ten lanes facing an eight-metre long screen, and weapons that may be used with the system include rifles, sub-machine guns, rocket launchers and anti-aircraft weapons. Coded lasers are also used in Nitor's Otec Ultima weapons training system that has been sold in many parts of the world. Nitor, in Britain, was acquired last year by Advanced Interactive Systems, an American small arms trainer company.

Siemens Nederland has also developed a small arms training simulator that makes use of real weapons in a classroom environment. The weapons can be equipped with a recoil mechanism to provide the highest `touch and feel' of the weapon. Configured to train up to 15 soldiers, the system can display pre-recorded interactive scenarios.

Lasers have played a key role in many training systems for more than 30 years, the early British pioneer Weston Simfire launching a concept that has been subsequently developed by Solartron and Litton before being absorbed into Lockheed Martin. The Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (Miles) is a name that has long become synonymous with this type of training and derivatives are still being produced. Inevitably, as electronics technology has developed, early devices have been superseded by smaller, lightweight and more reliable systems of improved performance.

These objectives have been met by elements of the Miles 2000 system developed by Cubic Defense Systems in response to emerging demands for more comprehensive training. For example, it meets the need to interface with combat training centre instrumentation so that an after action review may take the maximum amount of data into account. The Miles 2000 system embraces a wide array of weapons used in force-on-force training, ranging from individual weapon systems used together with helmet and torso detection systems, up to vehicle and independent target systems.

Supplied in various forms to many armies around the world, the Miles and its derivatives has become the embedded training system to which others must adapt if they are to succeed in penetrating the global market. While some companies have entered the market only to disappear soon after, others have survived to take their place among industry leaders. Saab Technologies is one such example of the latter, its Training :Systems division building on years of experience in producing target systems for live firing. Its laser and visual simulators have been exported to some 40 countries.

To describe a computer-monitored Combat Training Centre (CTC) as embedded simulation may seem excessive to some, but such advanced systems are surely no more than land-based versions of the Acmi systems used by many combat aircraft nowadays. The new generation of CTCs now coming on stream, such as the Altmark facility due to be completed by 2003, enable many players to participate in combined weapons combat exercises under more realistic conditions than before. The Altmark CTC now being installed by the Dornier Defense and Civil Systems of Dasa (now Eads) includes facilities for comprehensive de-briefing based on recorded data rather than the opinion of umpires.

Developed along similar lines, the new Simug CTC currently the subject of tests and trials in Switzerland, is to enter service next year, marking the first application of Codarts in a force-on-force instrumented training environment. Developed by Swiss Electronics Enterprise and Coel of Germany, Codarts (Combined Arms Direct Fire and Weapon Training System) is taking the application of laser-based and computer controlled training to new levels of sophistication. As conscripts largely man the militia-type Swiss Army, the need to make greater use of simulation had become evident, especially if the fast delivery of training by the minimum number of instructors was to be achieved.

Consequently, SE and Coel teamed to provide a training system tailored to the needs of the Swiss Army but designed in such a modular way that Codarts can be easily adapted to the requirements of other forces. Embracing several technologies but with computer control as the unifying factor, Codarts has done away with the need to deploy numbers of umpires to arbitrarily declare "you're dead" after an artillery bombardment is judged to have taken place.

Bearing in mind that laser-based training equipment was first introduced in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it is no surprise that a need to advance the technology had become evident. As we have seen, the Miles-type tactical engagement simulation and precision gunnery training simulation (PGTS) have both been widely adopted because of the benefits they bring in terms of safety, cost-savings and their ability to overcome environmental restrictions.

By adding tactical engagement simulation systems to infantry arms, including anti-tank weapons, (one of the earliest forms of embedded simulation), it became possible to relieve umpires of the task of deciding who had shot whom. Still widely used for rifles and light anti-armour weapons, tactical engagement simulation has proved to be an invaluable means of training troops to fire accurately and save ammunition in the process.

The Miles system uses a laser transmitter to send near-miss and kill messages along the weapon's boresight, laser detectors and decoder electronics on the target then determining the outcome of the encounter. As laser energy can be subject to environmental effects, it is difficult to accurately simulate the effective range of the host weapon. Furthermore, as Miles-type systems rely on straight ballistics, for all distances, it is not possible for the user to take account of the target's movement.

However, PGTS does measure the distance to the target and its movement, as well as angular movements of the weapon and the position of the target's reflector to the optical axis. Thus it facilitates calculated ballistics depending upon distance, aiming and target movements. Like TES, PGTS is an add-on to a weapon system used for gunnery training with safety and economy in mind. Even in its undeveloped form it has proved valuable in providing marksmanship training, but clearly new-generation laser-based simulators are required to offer improvements over systems that may be more than 25 years old.

Tactical engagement simulation equipment may effect targets beyond the range of the host weapon and makes less demand upon the user than the real weapon. PGTS avoids this danger of providing negative training and is a valuable aid to advanced tactical training but it cannot separate infantry and vehicle targets, so it too has its limitations. Yet despite these weaknesses, it is unreasonable to expect armies to throw away their existing training systems and replace them with completely new equipment, regardless of the benefits that they may bring.

So if, for the foreseeable future, both tactical engagement simulation and PGTS are to be used during the same exercise together with more advanced laser-based systems and be interoperable with the new computerised CTCs, an affordable solution is needed. The new Codarts offers just such a solution that includes a Target Discrimination System (TDS), which can facilitate both compatibility and interoperability.

Although the Codarts is in the early stages of service entry leading to full implementation, its benefits have, nevertheless, already become evident. In force-on-force exercises, it is no longer necessary to control the opposing forces in such a way that Blue forces always succeed. Moreover, real savings in the number of umpires required has been made possible by the use of devices that monitor and record the position of all forces, as well as the results of their activities.

Blue discs called Fire Market Units (FMUs) plot the movements of men and vehicles, (the latter being fitted with a GPS/DGPS as a back up to provide precise position information), as well as signalling this information to a containerised Exercise Control Centre. FMUs also have the facility to respond to artillery and mortar fire by generating smoke and noise.

To give an idea of the importance of the FMU's role; on the small Swiss Army exercise ground at St Luzisteig where the Codarts was recently demonstrated to army officers from many countries, 350 were scattered to "talk" to six Field Transponders, 100 transponders worn by infantrymen and 12 transponders mounted on vehicles. The entire progress of the exercise was plotted to present a comprehensive picture on a monitor in the control centre where weapon use and the results were recorded in real time.

While the Codarts system makes use of communication and computer controls to provide what might be called almost totally embedded simulation for combined arms training, new advances in laser technology also distinguish this new development. For example, the Cosim INF element of the system uses a focused laser beam in the infantryman's body harness transceivers to enable individual body areas to be targeted and ballistic ammunition effects to be considered. While remaining compatible with Miles systems, Cosim INF can distinguish up to five body-hit locations.

There is a growing perception that logistics and medical matters need to be considered during an exercise to oblige commanders to plan for the evacuation of soldiers judged to have been wounded, rather than killed as before. Indeed, before long it will be possible to record what a soldier was doing at the time he was hit by a bullet or shell splinter. Was he crawling, walking, running or standing still? It will even be possible to measure his heartbeat to consider stress levels when the time comes to debrief an exercise. This may seem far-fetched but the required technology is known; only the necessary funding is required and an answer given to the question: "who needs it?"

Saab Technologies has also addressed the question of battlefield casualties in the training environment, developing the BT 47 lightweight personnel detection device (LPDD) for use with the company's Garner system. If a hit is recorded by the LPDD, the effect is determined by a computer based on the attacker's type of weapon and the ammunition used. The "kill" or "wounded" result is then reported to the soldier by audio cue. Different types of wounds are programmed in and if the soldier has suffered a life-threatening wound, "electronic medical treatment" must be given within a specific time or the soldier's status will change to "kill".

While two-way tactical engagement simulation is a feature of the Codarts system, it has also introduced a method of integrating mortar simulators into battlefield training. The Cosim MW simulator enables mortar crews to be trained in the field with fire distances, timing presentation and the effects of impact, resembling real combat. There are no artificial features; grenade settings, use of additional charges and the fire pattern being faithfully reproduced.

Of course, many companies are working on the development of new devices that can further add to the levels of realism achieved during training exercises. For example, the MIL company of Canada has developed the A/T MES (mine effects simulator). The writer is not certain if this is embedded in a modified mine, so it may be included in this review under false pretences! Nevertheless, it has been developed as a realistic tool for mine awareness, clearance and breaching training without compromising safety.

When the mine is activated a signal is transmitted, which, on receipt by a Hit Indicator Unit (HIU), activates a strobe light or smoke for a vehicle, or a strobe light/audible alarm on personnel. Thus others, as well as the victim are alerted. The mine weighs 4.1 kg and, like the HIU, is battery powered.

Conclusion

The move toward embedded simulation begun more than 30 years ago has yet to reach its zenith, but the time is not far off when most army vehicles will be fitted with the facility to conduct simulator-based training even when they are deployed. To this end, the US Army Simulation Training and Instrumentation Command is investigating ways to make use of the computing power in weapons mounted on tactical vehicles.

The US Army's Inter-Vehicle Embedded Simulation Technology (Invest) programme begun in 1997 could result in all combat vehicles having an embedded simulation capability by 2025. Research carried out by industry leaders indicates that such a goal is achievable but meanwhile, in order to help forces to overcome budget problems, we may well see company-run training grounds providing an outlet for their embedded simulation technology.

In short

* "The concept of embedded simulation is now being taken to new levels, so that before long it will be commonplace for a vehicle, ship or aircraft to dip into `trainer' mode whenever of wherever the opportunity arises"

* "The more expensive that combat aircraft, main battle tanks and frigates become for example, the more important it is that such resources may be used as training aids"

* "The term now embraces complete exercise areas, not just the elements that train within them."