Submission of proposals
U.S. Army Research Institute (ARI)
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A00-097 TITLE: Assessing Decision-Making Skills in Virtual Environments TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Human Systems DOD ACQUISITION PROGRAM SUPPORTING THIS PROGRAM: Training and Doctrine Command – Dismounted Battlespace Battle Lab OBJECTIVE: Develop training assessment procedures and instruments for measuring soldier and small unit leader decision-making skills in virtual urban environments DESCRIPTION: Limited resources needed to prepare for and conduct large-scale field training events and exercises will force trainers to rely more on alternative methods of training soldiers. Cost effective methods are needed for developing/enhancing decision making and leadership skills of small unit (platoon, squad, and team) leaders in urban operations. One solution is to conduct a portion of this training, such as mission rehearsals, in virtual environments through the use of individual combatant simulators. Preliminary work in this area has shown that virtual environments offer soldiers the opportunity to thoroughly rehearse missions and familiarize themselves with the procedural aspects of specific tasks as well as offering a chance to examine new tactics and techniques. To date, prototype virtual training scenarios developed for urban operations have not systematically emphasized the cognitive aspects of decision making used by junior leaders or the adequacy of these decisions. These leaders require exposure to the cognitive challenges in these environments and practice handling these challenges including recognizing environmental cues and relevant situational factors affecting the decision. A scenario-based instructional program is needed which allows trainers to focus on critical decisions and judgments made by the soldier or small unit leader in conducting urban missions. The program will allow trainers to focus on specific decision points in the scenarios and address specific cues, factors, and strategies and highlight what the soldiers did right and where they went wrong. Performance measures are also needed that will document improvements in decision making over time. PHASE I: Scenarios will be developed by the trainer and key decision points identified. Each decision will have multiple responses (typically four), also identified in advance by the trainer. Decision points can include environmental cues the soldier needs to notice and interpret and/or tactical factors that must be taken into account when making decisions (also established by the trainer). The objective of this phase is to develop a methodology for an automated data collection and feedback system. The system will allow the trainer to input response alternatives into a data base during the course of the scenario and is capable of tracking the soldier’s behaviors, decisions and judgments at these critical (pre-determined) points in the scenarios. The system will permit rapid replay of events at these critical points. In addition, the system will track mission related factors such as rounds fired, casualties, time to complete the mission, soldier movement patterns, etc. and provide relevant summary statistics in a tabular or graphical format following the completion of each scenario. This procedure will also be able to link these factors with the soldier’s decisions or behaviors at pre-determined points. To supplement the feedback process, a top-down, snap shot capability depicting the positioning of soldiers in relation to the terrain at specified points in time (determined by the trainer) will be provided. The system should be capable of supporting a PC-based Lennux Red Hot operating system and should be applicable to HLA simulation networks. PHASE II: This phase will include the development and application of a prototype automated data collection and feedback system with the tracking and feedback capabilities described above. It will also include the development of prototype instruments for observers to assess both operational performance and qualitative changes in soldier decision making over time. The procedure will be validated using soldiers who will execute scenarios stressing different decision skill areas. The contractor will produce reports documenting the methodology and validation research. PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: This phase includes tailoring the decision-making training approach, assessment procedures, and instruments to other military and commercial markets. There is a potential commercial market for virtual environment training for enhancing rapid decision-making in high risk urban situations such as police actions, emergency medical treatments, and fire fighting. There also may be some applicability for sports where skilled team positions, e.g., quarterback, require rapid decisions, judgments and assessments of various situational cues under high stress conditions. OPERATING AND SUPPORT COST (OSCR) REDUCTION: Conducting the appropriate decision skills training at existing real world urban training sites requires extensive exposure to the many cognitive demands facing soldiers in urban operations. This type of training will severely stress available unit resources. A virtual environment, scenario-based instructional program with enhanced data collection/feedback features will provide the requisite knowledge-based training in a cost effective manner. REFERENCES: Phillips, J., McDermott, P. L., Thordsen, M., McCloskey, M. & Klein, G. (1998). Cognitive requirements for small unit leaders in military operations in urban terrain (Research Report ). Alexandria, VA: U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. Pleban, R. J., Eakin, D. E., & Salter, M. S. (2000). Analysis of mission-based scenarios for training soldiers and small unit leaders in virtual environments (Research Report 1754). Alexandria, VA: U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. KEYWORDS: Decision-making, Virtual environments, Automated data collection A00-098 TITLE: Training Media to Support Night Operations in Urban Settings TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Human Systems DOD ACQUISITION PROGRAM SUPPORTING THIS PROGRAM: Training and Doctrine Command – Dismounted Battlespace Battle Lab OBJECTIVE: Develop intelligent trainer software and related lessonware that provides individuals with increased knowledge of and skill in the employment of night equipment within urban settings. The resulting intelligent trainer will stress image intensification and thermal technologies, its advantages and limitations, as these relate to the diversity of urban settings and the dynamic activities that occur within them. It will adapt to individual trainees’ performance, create appropriate responses to unprompted trainee questions, and create and ask appropriate questions. DESCRIPTION: The Army has shifted much of its focus to operations in urban settings and to night operations. The conjunction of these two types of operations places unique training demands on soldiers and leaders. Yet there has been a failure to develop needed state-of-the-art-training for preparing the soldiers and leaders to perform within this operational environment. Individuals must be trained on the technological capabilities and limitations of night equipment, and how these capabilities impact decision-making and use of the equipment in the varied missions that are an inherent part of varied urban settings. These missions range from reconnaissance and observation both short- and long-range movement both external to and within buildings, raids, operating with "lights on" and "lights off," precision shooting, coordination of forces, discriminating different segments of the population within urban settings, operating in obscurants and fires, and other complex tasks. Effective employment of night technologies depends on the nature of the urban setting (building composition and size, layout of the city or town, mixture of industrial/residential/business areas), and thus requires that leaders and soldiers fully understand the limitations and advantages of the equipment available to them. The trainer will adapt to individual trainee's strengths and weaknesses during instruction. It will be able to display all major classes of multi-media lessonware. It will be able to create and adapt lesson sequences in response to trainee performance as well as create appropriate, new information in response to trainee questions and ask the trainee appropriate questions with which will be displayed appropriate graphics. To reduce technical risks, intelligent tutor software should be based on an existing intelligent tutor system. It is expected that significant improvements may be required of this system. Lessonware is to be kept in a different and separable module from tutor software. PHASE I: Phase I shall consist of a front-end analysis of the unique training requirements associated with conducting night operations in urban settings, a detailed design of the intelligent tutor system, and a final technical report. The front-end analysis will include identification of the deficiencies in the current training and doctrine literature and training support materials, and the technical information required by soldiers and leaders. The tutor system design will include a description of the existing intelligent tutor software upon which is to be improved in this project plus a detailed description of the improvements required, the means by which the tutor will adapt to trainee performance, a conceptual design of the training approach and media, and the overall instructional design. The technical report will consist of the front-end analysis, the system design, the mechanism proposed for making the tutor widely available, a design for evaluating the tutor, and projected costs for all project aspects. PHASE II: Phase II consists of implementation of decisions and designs made in Phase I. A milestone schedule for collecting and/or developing the necessary graphics and other lessonware shall be established, as well as milestones for the production of the training system. Assessments of the effectiveness of the trainer and reactions by trainees shall be conducted during product development. Reports describing these findings as well as copies of the trainer software and lessonware shall be produced. The tutor should be based upon hardware and an operating system that will be easily available to the Army at the time of Phase II completion. No third party software or lessonware requiring the Army to pay third party licensing fees should be used. PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: The Army's night equipment technologies are spreading rapidly to civilian applications in police departments, fire fighting departments, border patrols, Customs, and even to night vision within cars, to name a few. The training requirements described in this proposal has immediate applicability to training users of night equipment in all these civilian sectors. The effort also has obvious applications for the Marines and special operations forces. The development of intelligent tutor software that can deal with graphic media and ask and answer trainee questions will have wide educational and training uses independent of the night equipment lessonware specific to this project. OPERATING AND SUPPORT COST (OSCR) REDUCTION: The training products reduce the requirement for individual to experience first-hand the many effects, both positive and negative, of night equipment in urban and similar settings. They also substantially reduce the need for civilian and/or other Department of Defense agencies to develop these training materials, which can be costly given the photographic requirements. REFERENCES: Dyer, J.L., & Ford, P. (1998), September). See you on the objective: ARI program NIGHTFIGHTER (ARI Special Report 37). Alexandria, VA: U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. (DTIC No AD-B241 696) Dyer, J.L. Brooks, B. (1996, November). Adjusting NVGs in the field. Countermeasure, 17 (11), 10-11 Dyer, J.L., Shorter, G.W., & Westergren, A.J. (1988). Designing multi-media to train the thermal signatures of vehicles (ARI Research Report 1720). Alexandria, VA: US Download 1.22 Mb. Share with your friends:
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