By John McHale
ORLANDO, Fla. - Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) in McLean, Va., and U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM), are using the AI.implant tool from Engenuity in Montreal to bring enhanced realism and efficiency to military simulations.
SAIC-the U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI)-and USJFCOM are combining the AI.implant tool with OneSAF (One Semi-Automated Forces).
OneSAF simulation technology and tools provide an integrated approach to simulation. It enables the Army and U.S. Marine Corps to create a virtually limitless variety of computer-generated environments, military units, individual entities, behaviors, and scenarios to meet their diverse needs.
SAIC’s integration of the AI.implant technology brings real-world crowds, riots, and panicking to the simulated environment as a means of better preparing troops for engagements in conflict zones, Engenuity officials say.
Engenuity made the announcement at the Interservice, International Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC 2006) in Orlando last month.
AI.implant’s ability to produce scalable, behaviorally realistic crowds is an essential enhancement when creating simulations for Joint Urban Operations (JUO) scenarios, says Paul Kruszewski, chief technology officer at Engenuity. AI.implant compliments OneSAF’s existing military artificial intelligence (AI) components with new functionalities such as nondoctrinal behavior and visual brain authoring for a large number of noncombatants.
“Engenuity’s AI.implant helps OneSAF continue to push the technology envelope in the military training and simulation arena,” Kruszewski says. “AI.implant’s pedigree as a proven game technology and its agile and disruptive AI framework makes it a perfect fit for next-generation simulation projects such as OneSAF.”
Urban-warfare training simulations will require simulation that can duplicate all the random decisions not only friendly soldiers make, but also enemy combatants and civilians, Kruszewski says. Right now most simulations are two-dimensional and do not have that capability.
At IITSEC Engenuity also announced an upgrade to its STAGE family of simulation software.
The STAGE product update plays a key role in Engenuity’s Adaptable Intelligent Modeling and Simulation (AIMS) strategy. Composed of proprietary and partner technologies, AIMS allows customers in the military simulation and training industry to quickly and cost-effectively create adaptable simulation applications with greater immersive reality, intelligence, and real-time adaptability, company officials say.
“Increasingly, our customers need to create sophisticated, simulated urban command and control scenarios, as well as highly accurate simulations for deployment strategies in conflict zones,” says Robert Kopersiewich, director of product management and business development at Engenuity. “The latest version of STAGE addresses this need by expanding the range of tools and features, such as support for UAVs, on-the-fly terrain creation, and behavioral simulation. We have seen growing momentum behind our new product strategy and have received a commitment from a major European defense contractor who will move ahead with this system in the New Year.”
Key to the AIMS strategy are core partner technologies from Diamond Visionics LLC, AEgis Technologies Group Inc. and Boston Dynamics Inc. These technologies all work together out-of-the-box and can be easily reconfigured to answer to the needs of any simulation production.
In addition, the upgrade offers several market-driven features, Engenuity officials say. Greater support for the Common Image Generator interface (CIGI) is available throughout the entire STAGE suite, which means STAGE can easily integrate with any CIGI-based visual system currently deployed or in development. STAGE Scenario 5.4 also includes expanded support for the modeling and deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
Artificial intelligence is now available to STAGE users with the integration of AI.implant into STAGE Scenario 4.5. This industry first gives simulation developers the flexibility to selectively control certain entities in a simulation through either the core Computer Generated Forces (CGF) capability or the advanced artificial intelligence functions provided by AI.implant.
For more information, visit www.engenuitytech.com.
