Game Production Services, LLC

JFETS - Joint Fires & Effects Trainer System – Urban Terrain Module

Overview

The role of the forward observer continues to expand in the Army. In an urban environment, the challenges include limiting collateral damage and noncombatant casualties as the forward observer calls for artillery fire. The JFETS UTM lets forward observers gain the value of lessons learned in a cognitively challenging training system.

The JFETS UTM is a four-dimensional training environment combining 3-D graphics and an immersive physical environment. Soldiers are trained in an apartment environment where they observe the activity of a city through virtual windows. The environment includes stressors like heat, wind, cold, and explosions, giving soldiers practice making decisions under stress. The JFETS UTM is located at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, and was created in collaboration with the Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT).

Date delivered: September, 2004

What GPS Created

GPS built the apartment and set dressed it. Special effects, including heat/cold/wind, were integrated. Time of day is simulated with DMX controlled lighting through a mock skylight and a hole in the roof. Strobe lights inside the apartment provide the “reflected light” of explosions taking place outside. Virtual views are seen out the window and through the binoculars and rangefinders.

Control Room:

GPS built the control room where an operator controls the simulation and plays the role of the Fire Direction Center. Video screens show views in the apartment, and microphones let the instructor talk to trainees over a virtual radio or as an omniscient observer, outside the realm of the immersive experience.

Classroom:

The B-training classroom gives students the same observation views as the instructor and an audio feed allows them to hear what is going on in the apartment as well as simulated radio traffic. The instructor can show them virtual views as seen from the apartment, or views unable to be seen by the trainees, such as an aerial view of the battle area.

How it works

Trainees enter the apartment immersive environment by walking down a hallway.

The apartment must be secured before the forward observers set up their observation post.

A virtual window shows city views. Trainees use a simulated SINCGARS radio to call in artillery requests.

Trainees observe a virtual city using simulated M22 binoculars, Lightweight Laser Designator Rangefinder (LLDR) and Vector Laser Rangefinder. Motion tracking of equipment, such as the virtual binoculars, allows the view in them to correspond accurately with where they are pointed.

For more information about the JFETS UTM, please contact us.