The Future of Simulation

Tensely waiting for the action to start, Army soldiers run through one final mission rehearsal inside their armored vehicle. On their vehicle's sensors and displays, the U.S. soldiers see virtual enemy soldiers opening fire on them. Onscreen, the virtual forces are often indistinguishable from the live forces thanks to the sophisticated simulation technology.

Earlier, their commander used the same technology to create computer-generated enemy forces, simulate possible enemy actions, and generate a mission plan. Half a world away, a researcher relies on the same simulation technology to model how soldier operators could gain better advantage in a future conflict using emerging robotic systems.

Welcome to the next generation of Army simulation, currently being developed by SAIC. Our information technology professionals in Orlando, Florida, are developing a simulation system with unprecedented versatility and flexibility — the One Semi-Automated Forces (OneSAF) Objective System — for the Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, & Instrumentation (PEO STRI). The same OneSAF technology and tools will be used by Army and U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) trainers, force developers, engineers, and researchers. It will allow them to create a virtually limitless variety of computer-generated environments, military units, individual entities, behaviors, and scenarios to meet their different needs. This versatility will also help Army/ USMC personnel model and respond to new methods and tactics of war.

"OneSAF will revolutionize the way we do training, analysis and experimentation in the future," said Lieutenant Colonel Dave Vaden, TRADOC Program Officer for OneSAF. "There is nothing else like it."

This kind of flexible approach to simulation may offer great cost savings for the Army, because it allows the Army to accomplish with one simulation application what it now takes multiple, older, more-costly-to-maintain applications to accomplish. Lt. Col. Vaden notes that OneSAF will replace seven different models in use now, reducing the life cycle costs on all those programs.

Not surprisingly, the OneSAF Objective System has been chosen to be the embedded simulation engine for the Future Combat System, the U.S. Army's flagship transformation program aimed at developing a highly agile, versatile force capable of quickly responding to any type of conflict anywhere in the world.

Its acclaimed predecessor, the current OneSAF Testbed Baseline System, won important recognition for both SAIC and its Army client. The OneSAF Testbed Baseline was recently named one of the Top 5 Quality Software Projects for the U.S. Government.

"Being selected as one of the top five managed software programs in the entire nation speaks volumes about SAIC's performance, their commitment to teamwork, and the quality of personnel working the OneSAF program," said Lt. Col. Tom Coffman, Army Product Manager for OneSAF.

The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense sponsored the award in conjunction with CrossTalk, the Journal of Defense Software Engineering. (CrossTalk highlighted the OneSAF program and SAIC in its July 2003 issue.)

Currently fielded at more than 270 U.S. sites and several international locations, the OneSAF Testbed Baseline provided a major upgrade in simulation capabilities for Army users. In upgrading the previous simulation system, SAIC also re-architected it to serve as a bridge between legacy simulations and the next generation OneSAF Objective System. In addition to delivering improved performance and maintenance, the bridge system uses open-source solutions and easily ports to different platforms. SAIC staff is also using the bridge system to integrate and test new technology developments planned for the OneSAF Objective System, reducing development risk for the client. These practices made it an excellent example of "the right way to develop software," according to CrossTalk.

Related Information

• News Release: SAIC Program Receives Modeling and Simulation Award