Live training is one of the oldest forms of military simulation and continues to be the most effective way of preparing soldiers for what to expect and how to react on the battlefield. The power of live training has its basis in realistic scenarios that truly capture the confusion of the battlefield, allowing soldiers to fully understand what it is like to be shot at, and to shoot at a live target.

Several years ago, the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) decided to develop a next-generation live training system that used positional sensors to more accurately model engagements. The resulting programs, One Tactical Engagement Simulation System (OneTESS) and Combat Training Centers Objective Instrumentation System (CTC-OIS) leverage advancing technologies to produce higher fidelity engagements for both direct and indirect weapon systems. The Army now trains soldiers using a system known as the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES). This system uses lasers to pair a shooter to his target and uses basic tables to determine the outcome of the engagement. The MILES system has been in use for many years and suffers from several important drawbacks that affect the realism of the resulting battle.

To help improve live training engagements, Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) supports the engagement methodology and terrain database tasks. ARA also provides software development, modeling and simulation, hardware interfaces, and databases.

ARA teams worked on engagement methods and developed techniques for determining improved methods for adjudicating the effects of weapons engagements. Our engineers developed innovative approaches to increase the fidelity of calculations using physics-based models combined with three-dimensional target representations. ARA successfully achieved the main objectives of the teams terrain database work by:

• identifying the accuracy and storage requirements of the OneTESS terrain
• developing a format solution that contains the required precision and fit on the small unit computers

ARA's ultimate goal by furthering this technology is to enable tomorrow’s soldier to be better prepared for war through training that presents a realistic set of experiences and live training lessons.