Establishing Metrics and Creating Standards: Quantifying Efficacy of Battlefield Simulations
Abstract
This paper asserts that quantification and verification of Battlefield simulations is necessary to assess,verify, and guide the researchers, military commanders, and users in both the simulations development and theirimplementation. The authors present their observations on previous development activities that were hampered bylack of effective metrics and present their arguments that much of this was driven by a lack of standards. Tracingback using commonly accepted System Engineering practices, they show how lack of such standards makes even tothe development of effective metrics problematic. The paper documents the experiences and enumerates the potentialpitfalls of these shortcomings. Both the authors' experiences in military service and the technical literaturesupporting their theses are adduced to support their analysis of the current technical research and developmentenvironment. Then the paper evaluates several System Engineering tools to further investigate and establish theultimate goals of these formalized processes. Using their current project in establishing virtual on-line mentors as anexemplar of the way such tools would be effective, the authors make a case for the needs for metrics standards thatboth are accepted by consensus and are ultimately directed at providing the warfighter with all of the trainingpossible before putting that warfighters in harm's way and imperiling the missions for which they are puttingthemselves at risk. Examples of the nature and reaction to simulator training, virtual human interaction, computeragent interfaces and implementation issues are given to further illuminate for the reader the possible extensions ofthese approaches into the reader's own research as well as calling for a more community-wide recognition of theneeds for standards both for implementation and for metrics to assess Battlefield Simulation utility to the warfighter.Future investigations, analysis and action are considered and evaluated
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1154264
Entities
People
- Dan M. Davis
- Daniel P. Burns
- Evan Jaksha
- Mark C. Davis
- Skander Guizani
Organizations
- University of Southern California