"This research examined the use of virtual environments as a viable dismounted infantry mission rehearsal tool. Four squads of soldiers individually conducted two missions that involved clearing a two-story building located at an urban operations training site. Two squads rehearsed the mission in a virtual representation of the exact building they would clear at the urban training site. The remaining squads rehearsed in an actual two-story building that was similar to the one they would clear at the urban training site. Squads executed both missions in each environment. Performance differences between the rehearsal groups across the two real-world' missions were small to negligible. Group performance differences for flatricides and personnel flagging were negatively affected by simulator constraints. Effectiveness ratings for the two rehearsal modes were clearly dependent on the setting where soldiers rehearsed. The research showed that while virtual environments show promise for this type of training, a number of interface and technology problems must be overcome. Currently, virtual environments do not appear to be as effective as real-world tactical training for improving skills underlying specific small unit tasks or battle drills. However, these environments may be used effectively at selected stages of training to enhance cognitive skills development."--DTIC.

"This research examined the use of virtual environments as a viable dismounted infantry mission rehearsal tool. Four squads of soldiers individually conducted two missions that involved clearing a two-story building located at an urban operations training site. Two squads rehearsed the mission in a virtual representation of the exact building they would clear at the urban training site. The remaining squads rehearsed in an actual two-story building that was similar to the one they would clear at the urban training site. Squads executed both missions in each environment. Performance differences between the rehearsal groups across the two real-world' missions were small to negligible. Group performance differences for flatricides and personnel flagging were negatively affected by simulator constraints. Effectiveness ratings for the two rehearsal modes were clearly dependent on the setting where soldiers rehearsed. The research showed that while virtual environments show promise for this type of training, a number of interface and technology problems must be overcome. Currently, virtual environments do not appear to be as effective as real-world tactical training for improving skills underlying specific small unit tasks or battle drills. However, these environments may be used effectively at selected stages of training to enhance cognitive skills development."--DTIC.

"This report describes a multi-tiered process for generating a set of high payoff tasks that can be cost effectively represented in virtual environments. The tasks were used to guide the development of small unit (squad/team) dismounted Infantry training scenarios which were evaluated at the Dismounted Battlespace Battlelab (DBBL) Land Warrior Test Bed. Scenarios were based on five major tasks, Assault, Move Tactically, Enter Building and Clear a Room, Reconnoiter Area, and React to Contact. Soldiers, working as teams or part of a squad, executed all task-based scenarios through the use of individual combatant simulators. Soldiers indicated that simulations improved their real-world performance on similar tasks. Overall, the simulators were seen as effective for small unit training, e.g., team coordination, communication, decision making. the scenarios which provided the most training value integrated soldiers with computer generated forces to provide live force-on-force capability. The research showed the potential training value of dismounted infantry simulation technologies for soldier and small unit training, particularly cognitive-based activities. Subsequent research will focus on the use of this technology to enhance the decision-making skills of soldiers and small unit leaders."--Stinet.

"This report describes the work on a Science and Technology Objective (STO) entitled Virtual Environments for Dismounted Soldier Simulation, Training and Mission Rehearsal. The four-year (Fiscal Year FY 99-FY 02) STO effort was proposed to address a range of U.S. Army future operational capabilities described in U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Pamphlet 525-66 (U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, 1997). The STO activities and goals were focused on overcoming critical technological challenges that prevented effective Infantry Soldier simulation. The U. S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI) led a team of both government and industry developers in examining simulation capabilities for industry. The other government partners vent the U.S. Army Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory Human Research and Engineering Directorate (ARL-HRED) and Computational and information Sciences Directorate (ARL-ClSD). Each of the major players had a particular area of interest but all worked together to explore concepts and systems and to recommend directions for further work on training, concept development, and mission rehearsal."--DTIC.

This report attempts to fuse Army needs, specific to threat detection, with available evidence from academia and military sources. The report provides viable routes for short-term enhancement of threat detection training and long-term goals of a research program dedicated to improving the Army's understanding of threat detection. This review found two major avenues of research, visual attention and visual memory that would benefit research and understanding of attention and threat detection for current and future operational environments. Based on the review, at least three sequential skills are discussed as necessary for understanding and improving threat detection: attentiveness, recognition, and action. These skills orient and guide the Soldier in operational settings from the basic perceptual process at the attentiveness stage up through higher-order reasoning at the action stage. Training formats are explored including still images and high-fidelity simulations, all of which could be scaffolded upon a deliberate practice framework.

This report describes the work on a Science and Technology Objective (STO) entitled Virtual Environments for Dismounted Soldier Simulation, Training and Mission Rehearsal. The four-year (Fiscal Year FY 99-FY 02) STO effort was proposed to address a range of U.S. Army future operational capabilities described in U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Pamphlet 525-66 (U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, 1997). The STO activities and goals were focused on overcoming critical technological challenges that prevented effective Infantry Soldier simulation. The U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI) led a team of both government and industry developers in examining simulation capabilities for industry. The other government partners vent the U.S. Army Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory Human Research and Engineering Directorate (ARL-HRED) and Computational and information Sciences Directorate (ARL-ClSD). Each of the major players had a particular area of interest but all worked together to explore concepts and systems and to recommend directions for further work on training, concept development, and mission rehearsal.