Adapting Commercial Video Game Technology to Military Simulation Applications

Modeling and simulation (M&S) technologies play an ever-increasing role in supporting military applications: simulation-based war gaming, training, operational concept formulation, military utility analysis, and demonstration. The problem with developing specialized, medium-to-high fidelity simulations of military platforms, sensors, payloads, weapons, and CISR is both complexity and cost. Cost can be reduced significantly by exploiting commercial video game technology – especially the 3D graphics engine – and modifying/adding physics-based models where appropriate. For example, simulation models of surface ships, submarines, UUVs, UAVs, aircraft and ground vehicles are present in a plethora of commercial video games [1]. However, they usually lack the required fidelity and may be modeled solely in accordance with parameters taken from Jane’s Fighting Ships databases or other commercial sources. This paper focuses on an Independent Research and Development (IRAD) project conducted by Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) to adapt a commercial video game, Fleet Command (developed by Sonalysts, Inc. and sold internationally by Electronic Arts) to support concept formulation, analysis and demonstration for a notional military operations utility study. Fleet Command software, out-of-the-box, was modified by Raytheon and Sonalysts (under IRAD funding) in terms of adding: • a High-Level Architecture (HLA) interface to other, distributed Raytheon high-fidelity simulations (e.g., missiles and projectiles, CISR simulations); • a GUI/database editor that enabled the simulation user to change the database of simulation object characteristics (e.g., sensor performance parameters); • the capability to run Monte Carlo simulations; and • Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) level 1 and 2 databases for areas of interest. First order analyses were performed with this modified Fleet Command Naval Warfare Simulation without incurring the much higher cost of developing a simulation environment from scratch. In addition, Fleet Command was used in concert with an Effects-based Modeling Tool to link physics-based attrition modeling with effects-based models.