Is It Live or Is It...Virtual Dome Training?

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt Kara Thoreson
  • 711th Human Performance Wing
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  In pinpointing the Army National Guard's Grayling Air Gunnery Range, Air Force Research Laboratory researchers may well have identified the ideal test site for their Mesa, Arizona-based Warfighter Readiness Division's Joint Terminal Attack Controller virtual training dome. The dome's 4 m spherical screen, which gives JTAC trainees a 160°-170° horizontal field of view, facilitates real-time visual and electronic interaction in a synthetic hostile environment.

Providing both live and simulated options, the Alpena, Michigan-based Grayling Range is the venue of choice for training more than 200 JTACs and Joint Fires Observers from
the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, and coalition nations each year. As part of determining how best to utilize the dome for training JTACs as swiftly and effectively as possible, AFRL researchers installed the structure at Grayling, where they will explore the comparative advantages of training exclusively with live controls versus training via live controls and virtual simulation combined. The Grayling test bed will enable AFRL's examination--and where applicable, improvement--of the immersive experience so that present and future JTACs leave training able to perform at their best.

Simulator fidelity and required training time (duration) are among the areas to be examined, with investigations comparing simulators of various fidelity--some higher, some lower--to live controls. The data collected through these studies will facilitate cost-benefit assessments addressing how much time trainees need to spend in a lower- and/or higher-fidelity simulator, what affects skills decay, how often JTACs need refresher sessions to maintain proficiency, and other questions of similar importance. Along the lines of characterizing simulators according to their different uses, the Grayling effort can help to identify certain aspects of Mission-Essential Competency training, which does not always demand the highest-fidelity simulation. On the contrary, some MEC units are perfectly well-suited to a simple desktop computer trainer, while others may require a full-fidelity simulator and/or exposure to a live environment.

Also targeted for potential exploration at Grayling are the numerous new gaming technologies--specifically, off-the-shelf flight simulation games--professed to increase training realism and, thus, skills enhancement. In addition to advantages already noted, the range can supply rated pilots to assist with man-in-the-loop aircraft station testing by flying simulated planes the way they would in real life. One proposed test calls for a control group of JTACs to perform 2 weeks of live-controls training on a range (talking to a pilot in an actual aircraft, dropping a real bomb on a real target) and another group to train on both simulation-based and live controls. This prospective approach would enable researchers to determine which of the two groups had gained more knowledge and increased their skills.

The test bed effort is ultimately about determining how JTACs can best learn. Accordingly, the research will strive to reveal the benefits and issues--and promising interdependencies--of the virtual training dome versus flat-screen (two-dimensional, no peripheral vision) simulation and of the virtual reality environment versus live-controls experience. In this capacity, the Grayling test bed will help keep warfighters ready to roll on a moment's notice, providing foundational training and the experience of war minus the risks and the costs.