Command and Control Embedded Training: Visualization of the Joint Battlespace

Abstract : Working with the Air Force Research Lab's Human Effectiveness Directorate and the Iowa National Guard's 133rd Air Control Squadron, a research team at the Iowa State University's Virtual Reality Applications Center have developed an immersive VR system for distributed mission training called the Virtual Battlespace. The Virtual Battlespace is evolving into a useful exercise planning, pre-briefing, and debriefing tool. The Virtual Battlespace allow participants to analyze airspaces and develop scenarios, and then analyze the outcomes of scenarios, isolate particular engagements, and allow for alternate paths in a tree-like structure. The work has been presented at IITSEC 2002 and IITSEC 2003, and has been described in two papers. The first paper was presented at the NATO SCI Symposium, Critical Design Issues For The Human-Machine Interface, held in Prague, in the Czech Republic in May 2003. The second, "Command and Control in Distributed Mission Training - An Immersive Approach", was published in the March 2004 Journal of Battlefield Technology.