MetaVR Visual Systems Used in the eXportable Combat Training Capability (XCTC) Program

In August 2006, MetaVR delivered 17 VRSG licenses to SRI International for the eXportable Combat Training Capability (XCTC) program. This sale brings the total of VRSG units purchased for the XCTC training program to 22. The XCTC06 exercise used all 17 VRSG licenses, augmented with 5 licenses from the Joint Training Experimentation Program (JTEP).

The XCTC program, of which SRI International is a founding member and sole provider of instrumentation and communications support, is a National Guard Bureau initiative for creating a transportable combat training capability; starting in 2005 it has delivered battalion-level combat-readiness training to National Guard units to their home station locations instead of requiring the units to travel to the National Training Center or Joint Readiness Training Center.

The XCTC simulates an immersive combat environment. All the soldiers of the player unit, opposing forces, and role-playing civilians all wear GPS and laser based equipment that records each movement and engagement; such movements are also monitored at the Tactical Analysis Facility (TAF) in real time. The vehicles are also instrumented with tracking devices to record and monitor movement and engagements. VRSG is used as part of the real-time monitoring of exercise and the After Action Review (AAR).

The Tactical Analysis Facility, in which the MetaVR VRSG display (shown rightmost) provides 3D visuals of the instrumented soldiers and vehicles in action, simulated on the training database.

At the TAF, Army trainers use the software to monitor instrumented troop movements during a training exercise at an urban training site. Instead of having video cameras located at discrete locations, a commander can monitor all the troop movements with the scope of an infinite number of video cameras independently of light conditions, fog, or dust. With 3D virtual terrain of the actual training facility rendered in VRSG, the instrumented soldiers appear in the virtual world identical to where they are in the real world.

VRSG (in the foreground) rendering a geospecific training database and simulating activity of live-instrumented soldiers and vehicles in the training mission.

In July, more than 750 Indiana National Guard and Army soldiers participated in XCTC06, a three-week Train-As-We-Fight exercise held at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center and at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center.

      
On the left is a VRSG screen capture of the training database, comprised of geospecific terrain to simulate the training area. Click to see a high-resolution image of the database. The image on the right shows the Tactical Analysis Facility, in which the VRSG display (rightmost) shows visuals of the instrumented soldiers and vehicles in action, placed on the terrain database.

Buildings on the training database are geo-located with photospecific textures as shown in the above photograph of a structure used in the XCTC training and its corresponding 3D model. Images courtesy of SRI International.

After the exercise ended, the VRSG display of geospecific terrain with live instrumented soldiers was combined with video shot in the field to create the AAR. VRSG’s 3D simulation of the exercise, coupled with the video, enabled trainees and instructors to review what happened to gain insight into the mission execution.

MetaVR's VRSG providing visuals in the after-action review theater.

Photos on this page were taken in July 2006 by MetaVR during the exercise at XCTC 2006 at Camp Atterbury, Joint Forces Maneuver Training Center, unless otherwise noted.