An integrated approach to mission analysis and mission rehearsal

Although simulation techniques are widely used to support both mission rehearsal and mission analysis, these two applications tend to be considered as distinctly separate. In this article we argue that integrating them in a unified framework can benefit the end-users of the system (armed forces or police and security forces). We demonstrate this on project EUSAS ("European Urban Simulation of Asymmetric Scenarios") financed by 20 nations under the Joint Investment Program Force Protection of the European Defence Agency, where such a unified infrastructure is being developed. We show how a novel approach to integration through behaviour cloning enables the system to capture the operational knowledge of security experts in a non-verbal way. This capability in fact emerges as essential for the operation of the integrated system, and we illustrate how the interplay between the system components for mission analysis and mission rehearsal is realized.