Game Production Services, LLC

CAD-TS ECS2 - Cognitive Air Defense Training System – Engagement Control Station Simulator

Overview

Patriot Missile crews have traditionally been trained using radar simulations, whiteboards, field manuals and sand tables. Instructors have not had the tools necessary to teach the critical skill of visualizing the battle space in three dimensions.

The CAD-TS ECS2 is a tool that allows the instructors at the US Army Air Defense Artillery School at Ft. Bliss to show the correlation between abstract 2D radar views and complex 3D space through challenging scenarios they create. This helps the crews learn how to determine when radar-detected threats are real, and helps lower incidents of fratricide.

Combining a classroom with five projection screens and an immersive simulation of the Engagement Control Station (ECS), the CAD-TS can train up to 64 soldiers per session. Instructors can set up scenarios and communicate with students in the ECS to guide them using a microphone/headset.

Date delivered: December, 2007 (Phase I)

What GPS Created

Classroom:

GPS repurposed and remodeled an existing building to create a 60-seat theatre-style classroom with five projection screens and projectors, DMX-controlled stage lighting, and pro audio sound system. Observation cameras and microphones allow the instructor to see and hear what is going on in the ECS at all times. The instructor can communicate with students inside the immersive experience as an omniscient observer, if necessary, by using a special “God Mic.”

CAD-TS ECS Simulator Manstations:

GPS recreated the BITE panel, the status panel and the manstation radar control panels, all of which operate as in a real ECS. A simulated SINCGARS radio system is used by the trainees in the ECS to communicate with the ICC operator (role-played by the instructor). We recreated the rest of the ECS trailer, including lighting and climate control, for the purpose of creating an immersive experience.

Integration:

GPS linked together the US Army Simulation Drivers, ICT research technologies, and modeling of the physical attributes of the Patriot system with the ECS simulator and classroom.
CAD-TS ECS2 was created in collaboration with the Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT).

How it works

Projection Screens:

The instructor and simulation operator can show video feeds from inside the simulated ECS, match radar views to 3D rendered views of the simulated world, and show whole battlefield views from space. Instructors can take positive control of the simulation overriding student controls, or run simulations without students in the ECS.

Engagement Control Station Simulator:

The ECS simulates a real engagement control station with two radar screens, radios and controls.

Instructor’s Console:

The dais has two control consoles—one for the instructor and one for the simulation operator. The instructor console consists of six touchscreens used to control what is displayed on the five projection screens. He can display any view, application, or projector, and can employ a telestrator function to annotate views.

Secondary Educational Materials:

GPS, with the help of Corvus Analytical, designed secondary educational materials that describe enemy weapon systems. Each poster has a picture of a platform, its specs, and where applicable, a section on how to kill it. Students can view these materials before or after training sessions.

For more information about CAD-TS, please contact us.