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Gamasutra - Features - "Dead Reckoning Latency Hiding for Networked Games" 09.19.00

From a gamers' website, a good explanation of how dead reckoning is used in DIS-networked simulation to allow entities to track each other's position, attitude, and appearance, without overwhelming the network or encountering latency problems.

Posted on the MAF DMO IPT Community of Practice dicussion forum:

From: Gibbons, Michael W Maj 931 ARG/OSTK Subject: RE: Tanker White Cell Participation in Virtual Flag

BLUF: Tanker participation in Virtual Flag exercises as part of the White Force is beneficial.

BACKGROUND: Virtual Flag 08-1's purpose was to exercise the TACS [theater air control system]. This was a joint exercise with significant Army and Navy participation. The White Forces purpose is to control and add realism to computer generated sorties. In our case, the ATO [Air Tasking Order] had three KC-135R's in three different orbits. We monitored and transmitted on the radios as if we were actually flying the missions. We could fly the sortie to wherever was necessary in case of retrogrades or mission changes. The benefit of having a tanker person controlling the computer generated sortie is the added realism for C2 [Command and Control]. Anyone that attends a VF [Virtual Flag] in the future needs to understand that their role is to teach. Having people involved at this stage will help ease the transition to actually flying a distributed mission in the exercise in the future.

PROBLEMS/SHORTFALLS: The biggest issue that we saw was that the ATO was totally unrealistic from a tanker point of view. Our receivers were generally F-15C's that were not scheduled to refuel until they had been airborne for 3 hours. The other issue was that the KC-135 computer model burned less than 10 Klbs of fuel while orbiting for 3 hours. We worked around these problems, but it would be nice to have them fixed prior to the next exercise.

RECOMMENDATIONS: A tanker planner should attend future VF planning conferences to ensure the plan is realistic. At the current level of involvement, only one White Force tanker person is necessary. However, two is nice, so that you can take a break during the three hour exercise period. Generally, it would be best to send a pilot from the appropriate MDS [Mission Design Series] that will be simulated during the exercise (KC-10 pilot to simulate KC-10's, KC-135 pilot to simulate a KC-135).

From the ai.implant blog, how DMOC uses commercial software to generate scenarios and constructive entities for the annual Virtual Flag distributed simulation exercise:

The Distributed Missions Operations Centre of the US Air Force entrusts Presagis' STAGE Scenario to create thousands of entities for its large-scale training events.

The Distributed Missions Operations Center (DMOC) of the United States Air Force is one of the largest simulation facilities in the world. As part of the US Defense Secretary's Training Transformation Initiative, DMOC's mission is to develop and support tactical-level synthetic battlespace events for Air Force, joint, and coalition units. ...

In 2001, DMOC began using Presagis' STAGE Scenario as its blue-air environment generator. According to de Anda, "STAGE Scenario is used primarily for three functions. First, it is used to put constructive blue-air entities that can be driven by White Force operators into the event. Second, it supplements the air picture as seen from the cockpits. And, third, it increases our capabilities to realize effective communication and other training objectives."

One of the key reasons that DMOC chose to use STAGE Scenario is because of its intuitive User Interface. Explains de Anda, "Our White Force personnel change out every VF, so we need an intuitive UI that lets us get straight to flying the constructive simulations. STAGE Scenario provides this capability as our White Force drivers pick up on the interface in short order."

Additionally, DMOC needed a powerful solution since typical VF events require the generation of thousands of blue-air entities. STAGE Scenario was more than up for this challenge. Says de Anda, "STAGE Scenario can handle on the order of 10,000 entities. This is the going requirement to support VF-size events. In fact, during VF testing and integration, STAGE Scenario showed no discernable fidelity degradation when tested against 9,000 blue-air entities."...

In such large-scale event simulations, there are significant opportunities for commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) tools. However, as de Anda explains, "COTS vendors will have to remain competitive on price, incorporate open standards, such as those implemented by SISO, and work with government intelligence communities to deliver systems that work with predefined formats."

Because of its interoperability, DMOC has already committed to maintaining STAGE Scenario as an integral part of its VF event development. To this end, DMOC has purchased the rights to the STAGE Scenario code in order to be able to modify it for their own use. And, as they move forward, DMOC will continue to roll their in-house modifications into the next baseline version of STAGE Scenario.

This blog entry also has more information about how a Virtual Flag is conducted.

Presagis also produces the VAPS prototyping tool.