Simulation facility targets Future Combat Systems.

A new 12,000 square foot modeling and simulation complex in Albuquerque, N.M., will be used to test and evaluate virtual prototypes of the Army's Future Combat Systems.

The facility, dubbed the Simulation, Modeling for Acquisition, Requirements and Training (SMART) Lab is slated to open in August. It is being built by Honeywell Defense and Electronic Systems.

Edwin Goosen, the company's vice president for sales and marketing, said the goal is to use the facility to support FCS networking and software integration, provide modeling, simulation and visualization tools and resources, and provide engineering services.

The center will have a virtual reality lab, presentation facilities, capabilities to conduct nationwide Department of Defense war gaming, simulation of command, control, communication and intelligence software in war games, enterprise scenarios (for the Department of Transportation or Homeland Security), distributed role-playing in large test and training simulations.

The SMART Lab uses animated flow charts and three-dimensional digital environments, across distributed networks, said Derick Gerlock, project manager for modeling and simulation.

The idea is to understand what the customer needs by creating virtual prototypes. These prototypes would be employed in test and evaluation, training and life-cycle management, to determine what a system might cost 20 years down the mad, said Gerlock.

"We are starting from scratch," he said.

The biggest challenge was convincing management that the idea had merit, said Goosen.

"Then it was a matter of putting it together," he said. "We were starting with a clean sheet of paper."

There was a lot of discussion about whether it could be done with modeling and simulation, said Goosen.

Honeywell is funding the project. The SMART lab is expected to cost several millions dollars to build and equip.

The Army endorses the SMART concept as a way to capitalize on modeling and simulation tools and technologies to deal with system development, operational readiness, and life cycle cost.

"The Army spent a lot of money learning they could use modeling and simulation to get products out faster," said Gerlock.

Honeywell, with facilities across the country, chose to build its SMART Lab in Albuquerque because that is where it is doing much of its FCS work, said Mike Cuff, the company's director of FCS and surface systems.

"We could have picked another site, but [we're] leveraging the strength of our system integration site," he said. "If we are going to run and drive the FCS effort ... we wanted the hub here."

Honeywell's SMART Lab will have dedicated space for FCS, as well as the space to work on other programs, said Cuff. For example, the company's aviation side will be able to take advantage of the new center. Honeywell has received inquiries from other companies on the facility, he added.

"This is relatively new. As we are briefing and showing it to FCS team members, more interest will grow," said Goosen.

For example, Honeywell is partnering with Sandia National Laboratories on future projects.

"SMART Lab has accessibility with a wide range of customers," said Cuff. "The lab has capabilities that don't exist anywhere else.... There are not many facilities at this stage like it in the country with this capability," he said. "The idea is to validate software before you put it on the platform."

"Current virtual reality labs are focused on platforms [such as tanks and planes]. Our lab is focused on simulation and modeling software applications that will run on those platforms," said Gerlock

"We can implement the 'shalls' and validate the look and feel," he said. "We did not want to be a victim of the past ... platform focused."

Although the lab will be focused on software testing, it will have the capability to integrate hardware to perform hardware testing, said Gerlock.

"We can bring in large vehicle hardware, we can bring in a tank next to the simulation facility, if you ever need to do that," said Goosen.

Although the lab is still four months from opening, Honeywell has set up a temporary SMART Lab where the company is running distributed simulations, said Gerlock.