Micro-UAV Training in an Urban Environment

MetaVR™ has developed the high-resolution 3D urban terrain database and vehicle models needed to create a virtual Small Unit Level Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Systems testbed for proposed vehicle design evaluation.

	MetaVR Virtual Reality Scene Generator™ (VRSG™) rendering of a simulated MULE unmanned ground vehicle, MAVs, and soldiers on MetaVR's Baghdad database.

Vendors that produce highly mobile and deployable UAV systems (or Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)) to support company- and platoon-level operations that are day/night ISR-capable can test their designs and operation tactics using a MetaVR urban terrain database and vehicle model library of current and future vehicle designs (and provide their own).

   Wire-frame and textured images of MetaVR's Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) 3D model. This model is part of the 3D model entity libraries delivered with VRSG.

A US Government military command would distribute this virtual test environment in advance of candidate evaluations such that each vendor could incorporate and test their computer or hardware in the loop models of their UAV subsystems prior to on site experiments at the actual MOUT facility: air vehicle, launcher, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) payload, data link(s), and operator control unit. Potential systems could range from pocket-sized, backpack-portable, to single High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) transportable UAVs. The 3D terrain would be available in industry-standard formats with no redistribution fees; vendors would use the Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) networking technology to support multiple and concurrent live and constructive participant simulations.

A Predator is prototyped as a launch platform for iSTAR VTOL tactical urban UAVs. This model is part of the 3D model entity libraries delivered with VRSG.

The Small Unit Level Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Systems testbed would provide for testing many different permutations of UAV configurations and launch techniques. Ultimately vendor vehicle computer models would be incorporated into a base line standard Government simulation for further testing and eventually as part of a UAV simulation training infrastructure. This network-centered collective simulation environment would provide for combined operations experiments and training for individual unit tactics using proposed or fielded UAV designs. Unit level tasks such as the Forward Observer (FO), Close Air Support (CAS) or JTAC roles in conjunction with a call for artillary fire missions can be simulated in this urban environment.

A Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) peers into a window and an iSTAR ducted fan UAV coordinates with Future Combat System robotic vehicles in a MOUT site. These models are part of the 3D model entity libraries delivered with VRSG.

Enabling soldiers to fight in simulated dense urban environments with advanced technology place greater challenges on system developers and training environments than was previously experienced in the modeling and simulation industry. With MetaVR simulation technology, you can prototype and develop training systems for new technology and then test the systems in a simulated urban environment that very closely matches reality.

A MAV has entered through a doorway in advance of the infantry to provide reconnaissance that limits a soldier's exposure to danger.

Simulating realistic MOUT sites requires the image generator to manage high polygon counts while processing high-resolution photorealistic imagery of the terrain and photorealistic buildings developed from CAD drawings in real-time (60 Hz). Terrain elevation and building geometry must precisely match the real urban environment to provide valid experimental data so that the simulation tells the user an accurate story of how the system would actually behave in the real world. With MetaVR technology you can simulate future proposed urban warfare capabilities such as:

• Small UAVs that can hover outside windows
• UAVs that can perch as a surveillance system
• Backpack-sized UAV systems that are easy to use for military personnel to operate
• Micro-UAV and unmanned ground vehicle joint collaboration

The individual combatants are simulated by MetaVR's First Person Simulator™ application. The UAV (or UAS) is typically simulated by systems such as the MUSE.

MetaVR VRSG can simulate the camera or sensor views of what the UAV prototype would display to an operator, as shown below. The sensor views in VRSG can be configured to match the capabilities of a vendor's UAV.

  
Examples of different sensors that VRSG can model.