I/ITSEC Exhibits Reflect Advantages of Collaborative Training Research Published May 7, 2010 By John Schutte 711th Human Performance Wing WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- While warfighter preparation is no game, Air Force Research Laboratory human performance expertise reveals that it nonetheless benefits from games--game-based military training and simulation, that is. Featuring technology developed and transferred via Cooperative Research and Development Agreement-enabled collaborations with private industry, AFRL demonstrated the value of interoperable gaming environments for building warfighter knowledge and skills. The venue for this technology exhibition was the 2009 Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference, held in Orlando, Florida. An ongoing activity for AFRL's Warfighter Readiness Research Division is the research and development of interactive gateways permitting--through various interface controls and exchanges--commercial game-based environments to function seamlessly, both with each other and with the lab's Live-Virtual-Constructive training concept. AFRL's recent I/ITSEC-based activities revealed that by collaborating to integrate existing technologies to form a kind of comprehensive, "family-of-complementary-trainers" enterprise, engineers can actually decrease development time and meanwhile increase the training value of each constituent technology. AFRL showcased a second, equally impressive capability stemming from cooperative technology endeavors as well--namely, an interoperable voice-enabled synthetic agent system called the Virtual Interactive Pattern Environment and Radiocomms Simulator, which arose from a partnering venture with Air Education and Training Command and CHI Systems, Inc., to leverage Joint Technology Center/Systems Integration Laboratory Air Force Synthetic Environment for Reconnaissance and Surveillance/ Multiple Unified Simulation Environment resources. As the cornerstone of the JTC/SIL's diverse tool set for supporting all unmanned aerial system programs in the military, AFSERS/MUSE is the primary UAS training and simulation system used in the Department of Defense for command- and staff-level joint services training. VIPERS uses cognitive agents (software components that can behave intelligently in complex systems over extended time periods) and speech interaction in concert with desktop simulation to provide pattern-in-a-box practice tools. By enabling student pilots to practice radio communications using artificially intelligent agents, voice commands, and a simulated pattern environment, the VIPERS technology reduces the need for human trainers and expensive systems (e.g., aircraft, air traffic control towers) and thereby drastically reduces both costs and risks. Joint tactical air controllers can use VIPERS to learn and practice real-time mission skills and effective coordination, including spoken and text-based interaction, with UAS "crews," which in this case comprise voice-enabled software agents. AFRL's third I/ITSEC demonstration featured a multimedia presentation of the Standard Space Trainer, a game-based approach to space training. A unified development effort involving AFRL, the Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command, and various research partners in academia, industry, and the other services, the SST represents a major success story for training-related technology transition.