STRATA: DARWARS for Deployable, On-Demand Aircrew Training

Current practices in team training rely either on coordinated scheduling of personnel local to a base or ship (which limits the availability, breadth, and consistency of training), or on TDY training at a dedicated facility (which presents few opportunities, risks rapid skill degradation, and incurs high costs). To overcome these limitations we are developing Synthetic Teammates for Realtime Anywhere Training and Assessment (STRATA). STRATA is supporting DARPA’s Training Superiority (“DARWARS”) program and its vision for persistent, on-demand distributed mission training. STRATA integrates several innovative technologies that, for the first time, allow users to interact in challenging, engaging scenarios with distributed human and synthetic players, executing realistic missions at varying challenge levels. Our goal is to achieve considerable improvement in user performance by combating skill decay, to afford on-demand practice of both individual and team-level skills, and to provide tools that enable designers to create innovative training that is fully deployable with minimal equipment requirements. A central feature of STRATA is the use of intelligent, interactive synthetic teammates that communicate verbally with users and exhibit realistic task and team behaviors. STRATA also affords instructor-optional training, through the use of advanced capabilities for automated mission briefing, individual and team performance measurements, and automated after-action review (AAR). STRATA is being demonstrated in the context of Close Air Support training. More broadly, the combined capabilities of synthetic teammates and automated instruction affords team training that is truly on-demand.

[1]  Eduardo Salas,et al.  Making decisions under stress: Implications for individual and team training. , 1998 .

[2]  Eduardo Salas,et al.  Aviation Computer Games for Crew Resource Management Training , 1993 .

[3]  Celestine A. Ntuen,et al.  Human Interaction with Complex Systems: Conceptual Principles and Design Practice , 1996 .

[4]  Florian Jentsch,et al.  Evidence for the Validity of PC-based Simulations in Studying Aircrew Coordination , 1998 .

[5]  Robert T. Hays,et al.  Simulation Fidelity in Training System Design: Bridging the Gap Between Reality and Training , 1988 .

[6]  Dennis B. Beringer,et al.  Issues in Using Off-the-Shelf Pc-Based Flight Simulation for Research and Training: Historical Perspective, Current Solutions and Emerging Technologies , 1994 .

[7]  Ralph Chatham,et al.  Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Training Superiority & Training Surprise , 2001 .

[8]  K. Smith-Jentsch,et al.  Team dimensional training: A strategy for guided team self-correction. , 1998 .

[9]  Wayne Zachary,et al.  Using a Community of Intelligent Synthetic Entities to Support Operational Team Training , 2001 .

[10]  Brian K. Rogers.  Microcomputer-Based Instrument Flight Simulation: Undergraduate Pilot Training Student Attitude Assessment , 1991 .

[11]  Michael J. Zyda,et al.  Modeling and Simulation: Linking Entertainment & Defense , 1997 .

[12]  Wayne Zachary,et al.  Interface Agents in Complex Systems , 1996 .

[13]  E Salas,et al.  It is not how much you have but how you use it: toward a rational use of simulation to support aviation training. , 1998, The International journal of aviation psychology.

[14]  Jefferson M. Koonce,et al.  Personal Computer-Based Flight Training Devices , 1998 .

[15]  Winston Bennett,et al.  Factors That Influence Skill Decay and Retention: A Quantitative Review and Analysis , 1998 .

[16]  David Harris,et al.  Computer-Based Simulation as an Adjunct to Ab Initio Flight Training , 1998 .

[17]  G. Klein,et al.  Decision Making in Action: Models and Methods , 1993 .