Development and Application of an Academic Battle Lab

The Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) at Old Dominion University is developing an academic battle lab facility. The battle lab is a highly sophisticated computer simulation laboratory that integrates constructive, virtual and live simulations with intelligent decision support and collaboration tools to create an environment in which to evaluate new ideas and concepts. The military uses battle labs to conduct simulation-based experimentation and training. Government and industry may one day use the battle lab as an enterprise decision support laboratory. In an academic setting, the battle lab is a place to use methods of war fighting as an application area in which to investigate the frontiers of modeling and simulation. The purpose of this paper is to describe the VMASC Battle Lab and to discuss how the battle lab supports the University’s modeling and simulation research and graduate programs. The important characteristics and requirements of a battle lab are identified and the design of the VMASC Battle Lab is presented. Then, research areas supported by the battle lab are identified and several current and potential research projects are described. Finally, the integration of the battle lab with the graduate modeling and simulation programs is explained.