MetaVR Visuals in TUAS Embedded Visual System Trainers

AAI Corporation uses MetaVR™ 3D visualization software to provide the desktop and embedded 3D synthetic payload visualization system for training Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) operators on Ground Control Stations (GCS).

In 2008, PEO STRI selected AAI's Shadow Training Aids, Devices, Simulators, and Simulations (TADSS) desktop training suite to support training for U.S. Army National Guard units operating the RQ-7B Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (TUAS).

AAI uses 109 MetaVR VRSG licenses for its Shadow TADSS desktop training suite. In addition, AAI has purchased 396 VRSG licenses since 2002 for ongoing fielding in its embedded Shadow Crew Trainer One System Ground Control Station to support their embedded trainers in Hunter, Shadow TUAS, Aerosonde, and Grey Eagle unmanned aerial systems, which are used by U.S. Army and Army National Guard units. MetaVR visuals are also used in AAI’s new Universal Ground Control Station (UGCS), the next generation of One System Ground Control technology.

AAI's Shadow TADSS deskstop training suite. Image courtesy of AAI.

AAI was selected in late 1999 to provide the U.S. Army with brigade-level TUAS capabilities. Back in 2002, AAI purchased VRSG licenses initially for the GCS embedded trainer in the Shadow 200 program.

AAI produces and supports a complete family of advanced tactical unmanned aircraft systems, including Shadow systems flown by the U.S. Army, National Guard, and Marine Corps. As part of the U.S. Army's ongoing Shadow TUAS program, AAI has developed a Shadow Crew Trainer (SCT), which is an embedded component of the One System GCS.

The SCT is a mission-level training device that enables users to train on their specific roles, as well as team-level communication and mission rehearsal. In June 2011, the SCT was granted accreditation by the U.S. Army Aviation Center Directorate of Simulation. This means that users can log SCT hours as flight hours toward their overall requirements for Shadow UAS training.

	Real-time VRSG screen captures of character and vehicle entities and simulated Shadow UAV camera view from VRSG version 5 3D content libraries. All the scenes take place on MetaVR's virtual Afghanistan terrain.

The SCT, which can be housed in a climate-controlled trailer or a classroom configuration, includes: an instructor/operator station, two stations for GCS training, a staff/leader role-player station and a launch/recovery training station. The dual GCS allow users to coordinate the handoff required during launch/recovery. The instructor can work with the other users to simulate pre-flight activities, train on fault scenarios and capture crew performance for after-action review.

The One System GCS is the premier ground control station of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, used to operate multiple unmanned aircraft systems over battlefield and operations areas and disseminate the valuable intelligence video collected. The One System GCS complies with STANAG 4586, a NATO standardization agreement that enables various UAS to share information through common ground stations, thus enhancing interoperability among allied military forces.

	AAI's TUAS ground control station shell is mounted on a humvee, which tows the Shadow UAS behind it on a launcher trailer as shown in the last image below.		A view inside AAI's Shadow 200 TUAS ground control station, showing VRSG simulating the Shadow camera payload.

The MetaVR software is also used to train UAS operators at the Institutional Mission Simulator used at the UAS schoolhouse at Ft. Huachuca, AZ. This facility consists of mockups of the actual GCS vehicles in a class room setting.

Simulation training in the classroom at Ft. Huachuca, AZ, on the Shadow TUAS Ground Control Station embedded trainer using VRSG.

Each TUAS system is comprised of three air vehicles, two ground control stations, two ground data terminals, a launcher, a tactical automatic landing system, and an aerial vehicle transport.

The One System GCS is a critical component of the TUAS system; in normal operation, the GCS is used to control the flight of the UAS and receive its telemetry. Each GCS is equipped with ruggedized Intel PCs running Microsoft Windows using game-level graphics cards as embedded hardware for the training system. By using any one of a number of commercial off the shelf technology PC graphics cards that support the Microsoft DirectX standards, the resulting system has true hardware independence.

When the system operators are not flying the actual UAS, they can fly a simulated UAS using the same hardware they use to operate the real system -- using the JTC/SIL MUSE air vehicle and datalink simulation software and MetaVR's PC-based technology. Thus, an operator does not necessarily know whether the video feed is coming from a simulator or a real camera video feed.

Another view from inside a GCS.

The GCS PCs run a variety of software, including MetaVR's UAS technology, which provides the embedded visual system within the trainer for the TUAS. With the TUAS contract extension, MetaVR's software will be delivered on future TUAS ground control stations. For field operation use, the TUAS system would have a 3D visual terrain database loaded for the same area in which operators are physically present so that they would train on the same terrain that they would fly during real missions. This same system can provide real-time situational awareness of the live UAS by depicting it in a coincident virtual world.

One aspect of training UAS operators entails interacting with JTACs in joint mission training. Training together in a networked synthetic environment, the UAS operator and the JTAC on the ground work together to identify the same target in a scene.

The AAI Shadow TUAS is supported here by its launcher trailer. Notice the camera extending from the bottom of the aircraft, which supplies video feed to the ground control station shown in the images above. This is the camera view that VRSG simulates.

VRSG can be configured to simulate a UAS in a variety of ways. These configurations range from using VRSG's internal camera payload model in which the telemetry of the simulated UAV is provided by a DIS or HLA entity, to fully integrated applications such as the MUSE UAV tactical trainer. The Multiple Unified Simulation Environment (MUSE)/ Air Force Synthetic Environment for Reconnaissance and Surveillance (AFSERS) simulation system is the primary UAV training system used within the Department of Defense (DoD) for command- and staff-level training for the Joint Services. MetaVR is the primary supplier of training visual systems for the MUSE UAS program.

Other VRSG UAS simulation features include:

• Capturing high-resolution virtual world screen images remotely, in which VRSG can instruct the UAV camera to capture the current image in its field of view from remote operators in the simulation environment, save the image to a file, and deliver the file for display on another computer. This feature simulates the GlobalHawk large image sensor capability.
  
  
• Using VRSG as a simulated, live, virtual video feed from a UAV that is used to classify ground information from a Geographical Situational Display. Airborne or space-borne collection systems that use Ground Moving Target Indication (GMTI) and target identification devices create symbolic representations of moving entities over large geographic areas. VRSG enables the operator to refine target identification and classification.
  
  
• Streaming real-time MPEG of UAV KLV metadata multiplexed into an MPEG2 transport stream. Tactical exploitation systems can use this streaming MPEG feed to visualize sensor payload imagery in real time and extract the UAV metadata. The metadata editor GV 3.0 is an example of a system that can decode VRSG's MPEG stream and embedded UAV metadata.
  
  
• Coupling VRSG with remotely operated video-enhanced receiver (ROVER) devices. VRSG generates the simulated 3D scene and the range and coordinates of a designated target on the ROVER's monitor.