Orlando News
Central Florida Division Featured in Military Training Technology Magazine
ARA's Real-Time Physics Effects Library (RPEL) is featured in MT2 Magazine's DataPackets department in April 2010, highlighting its fundamental capabilities that game engines or simulation tools use to integrate real-time high-fidelity weapons effects. Lead by Central Florida Division's Jeff Lyons, RPEL was developed to fill the gaps in games used as training devices. To view the article on the MT2 Web site, click here.
SHared Architecture for Dynamic Environment (SHADE)
The Central Florida Division of ARA has won a multi-million dollar, multi-year contract with RDECOM for development of the SHared Architecture for Dynamic Environment (SHADE). SHADE will provide extensible, reusable dynamic environment capabilities to the US Army modeling and simulation community. SHADE supplies all of the necessary components to receive event information, compute an effect, and convey the effect to participating applications in a correlated, repeatable fashion. Development will not target a single program; instead it will solicit requirements from across the Live, Virtual, and Constructive domains to provide a solution suitable for any program. For more information contact: 407-823-9121
I/ITSEC 2009 Conference
ARA will be exhibiting at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference for the 9th consecutive year. I/ITSEC is held yearly in Orlando, FL at the Orange County Convention Center. The conference dates are November 30 – December 3. Come visit us at booth 509.Exhibits will include game demos from Virtual Heroes, a division of ARA, and demos of ARA’s dynamic environments. Paper presentations will include:
Title: Patient Safety in the OR: Improving Team Coordination and Communication (9257)
Authors: Anna Grome, Beth Crandall, Jeff Brown, Applied Research Associates; Sue Sanford-Ring, Steve Douglas, University of Wisconsin
Title: An Adaptive Learning Architecture for Next Generation Simulation Training Systems (9320)
Authors: Jeff Sestokas, Christopher Burns, Applied Research Associates; Thomas Forbes Worth II, Harvard University
Title: PhysX Extended: An Integrated Real-Time Physics and Terrain Solution (9391)
Authors: Danny Browning, James Adkison, Applied Research Associates; Steven Borkman, Dignitas Technologies; Julio De La Cruz, SFC Paul Ray Smith Simulation & Training Technology Center (STTC)
Applied Research Associates, Inc. Demonstrates Geometric Pairing Capability for US Army’s PEO STRI
Applied Research Associates, Inc.—teamed with I-A-I and Innalabs, Inc.—demonstrated a full end-to-end geometric-paring capability for the US Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI). Eight separate scenarios were demonstrated, including direct-fire hit and miss, direct-fire shoot through walls, direct-fire blocked by walls, indirect fire, fragmentation penetration through walls, and blocked by walls.
Geometric pairing enables live force-on-force or force-on-target training, without the cost or risk of live-fire ammunition. The advanced geometric pairing capability utilizes electronic bullets (E-bullets) distributed over
a wireless network, tracking target and shooter locations to 20cm accuracy. Simulated weapons fire and fragmentation are electronically “flown out,” an action made possible via the use of Weapon Orientation Measurement (WOM) technology, accurate to 0.17 degrees, and physics-based modeling technology. Material properties for buildings and trees and anything that can “stop a bullet” are represented in the Layered Terrain Format.
The Principal Investigator for the demonstration stated, “Geometric pairing technology is an enabler, allowing our warfighters to train the way they fight. With this technology, soldiers can train with every weapon they will later carry into battle, and train for certain urban scenarios that are impossible to simulate using real bullets. Using real ammunition will always be a part of training, but there are many situations where using E-bullets saves time, saves money, lowers risk, results in better training, and ultimately saves soldier and civilian lives.”
For More Information on the geometric-pairing capability or physics-based modeling, contact the Manager at 407-823-9121.
Applied Research Associates, Inc. Conducts First Airport Disaster Response Simulation
Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) Central Florida Division successfully conducted its first civilian aviation disaster-response exercise. ARA held the exercise at the Southwest Florida International Airport to train operations staff how to respond to a sabotage incident.
The exercise ran via a new generation of simulation software, called the Airport Emergency Response Operations Simulation (AEROS). Developed by ARA and sponsored by The National Academies’ Transportation Research Board, AEROS is a web-based simulation that will offer decision-making exercises related to natural disasters, crash landings, airport fires, hazardous materials release, and other emergency situations. These exercises are specified in FAA regulations as part of airport certification requirements.
“We are very pleased with the results of this field exercise and the quality of feedback provided by these highly experienced managers,” said the project manager for AEROS. “Because live exercises are costly, they are traditionally performed only annually. Alternatively, simulations such as AEROS provide a near-zero cost standardized method of training on a more-frequent basis.”
AEROS will be tested at two additional airports and is scheduled to be released to the civil aviation community in 2010.
For more information on the civilian aviation disaster response exercise or AEROS, please contact the Manager at 407-823-9121.
ARA Awarded U.S. Army STOC II Contract
Applied Research Associates, Inc. has been awarded the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) Omnibus Contract II (STOC II) vehicle for Lot 1 - Full and Open. The STOC II contracting vehicle will allow PEO STRI and its customers to develop interoperable live, virtual and constructive capabilities for the test and training communities.
STOC II is a multiple-award, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a ceiling of $17.5 billion that provides services for the Warfighter, beginning with concept development and continuing throughout life-cycle support. The objectives of STOC II are to:
- Facilitate the leveraging of programs and technology (to include joint and/or joint-related) in the best interests of the U.S. Army and Department of Defense
- Prepare the Warfighter to meet the challenges of the future joint operational environment
- Support continued growth in the interoperability of live, virtual, constructive and testing solutions to enhance training and testing capabilities of the Warfighter.
ARA’s focus areas for STOC II include real-time modeling of weapon engagements, dynamic environment modeling, test and evaluation, systems engineering, cognitive modeling via our Cognitive Solutions Division (formerly Klein Associates Division), and medical simulation and game-based training via our recent acquisition of Virtual Heroes, Inc.
ARA is an employee-owned company dedicated to producing innovative solutions to government and industry for over 30 years. For more information contact STOC Manager at 407-823-9121.
Deep Green - A Battle Command Decision Support System
The Central Florida Division of ARA has been chosen to lead the test and evaluation efforts on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA's) new multi-million dollar project, Deep Green. Deep Green is a battle command decision support system, which is intended to help military commanders avoid "black swans" in their plans through enhancing option generation and decision-making processes. For more information, contact the manager at 407-823-9121.
Real-time Physics Effects Library (RPEL)
The Central Florida Division of ARA has won a contract with RDECOM STTC for development of our Real-time Physics Effects Library (RPEL). RPEL integrates efforts from multiple ARA divisions to provide a real-time weapons effects simulation capability. The system uses validated models to assess vehicle and building damage and it will soon be able to model human casualty assessment. In addition, RPEL integrates easily with 3D gaming environments for real-time effects visualization. For more information, contact John Mann or Jeff Lyons at 407-823-9121.
