Low cost-simulators 1d : generic training simulators for military applications

To investigate the possibilities for application of low-cost simulators within military training courses, the research project called ELSTAR (European Low-cost Simulation Technology for the ARmed forces) is carried out under contract of the Ministries of Defence of the five participating countries of Research Technology Project (RTP) 11.8, viz. Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, and The Netherlands. In the first part of this investigation, i.e. work-package 1a, a taxonomy constituilitary task domains (ELSTAR Taxonomy) was a.o. developed and these 100 domains were evaluated on 15 criteria relevant for low-cost simulator applications and R&D. This resulted in a concise set of 9 military training areas that represented 29 task domains that were selected for further study. These 9 training areas were then further investigated in workpackage 1b and 1c. This involved task- and cost-utility analyses on specific training courses that were considered representative for the 9 selected training areas. The present report describes the selection of 4 training areas out of these 9 training areas, and provides the global functional specifications of generic training simulators that could be applied in training programmes within these areas. This selection is based on scores on the ELSTAR taxonomy, the results of the task-, training-, and cost-utility analysis, and expert judgements on the generic value and complementar-ity of the knowledge that will be acquired.
The results e results show that driver training, UAV crew training, infrared and image intensifier operation training, and mission management training will be most suitable for further research into the possibilities for the application of low-cost simulators. Functional specifica-tions that are drawn up for training systems for these training areas, indicate the global simulator requirements and which task clusters may be simulated at low-cost. In subsequent workpackages, more detailed requirements for the selected training systems will be specified.