The Battlefield Development Simulator System (BDSS)

The Battlefield Development Simulator System (BDSS) by Captain Robert M. Lynd, Jr. We can now design and test the equipment and doctrine the U.S. Army will use on the AirLand battlefield of the future on Fort Knox's Battlcfield Development Simulator System (previously called SIMNET-The Army sponsored BDSS, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) manages it. The system is a powerful combat development tool to explore materiel, doctrine, and training developments; force design; and manpower and personnel integration (MANPRINT) issues. What makes BDSS different from other combat development tools is that real soldiers operate it, incorporating the user's perspective in the very early stages of concept evaluation and developmental work. Thcre-fore, users can define, test and refine requirements to ensure they meet the user's needs at a cost the Army can afford. BDSS captures the spirit of the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense Management in that it allows the Army to "lly bcfore we buy." D). BDSS consists of a set of reconfigurable and nonreconfigurable, full crew, combined arms, interactive simulators. An ETHERNET networking system links the simulators to a suite of powerful data collection and analysis software tools (See Figure 1). Opcrators can rcconfigure or change the simulators in the following manner: PHYSICALLY The system dcsig-ners have avoided "molding" the sirnulators to represent any particular weapons system or platform. Instead, the rack-mounted parts are movable, and the tester can reconfigure them into any position he requires. For example, he can change an M1 tank simulator into a helicopter, air defense weapon, etc.

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ACTERISTICS: By changing the algorithms, the combat developer can alter the simulators to have the capabilities he wants. Let's say, for example, that the combat developer wants to examine the doctrinal implications of a tank that could travel at 200 miles per hour, fly up to 200 meters at a time, or operate in a stealth mode, undetectable until it is 500 meters away from the enemy. A program change can provide those capabilities.

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The system can provide a semi-automated OPFOR to fight the friendly-manned simulators. Just as the combat developer can change the characteristics of the "Blue Force" by changing the algorithms, he can give the OPFOR whatever capabilities hc needs for the test. He can simulate OPFOR units up to regimental size. TERRAIN DATA BASE Presently, the BDSS contains two terrain data bases - 50 square kilometers of Ft. Knox, and the Range 301 complex at Grafenwoehr, FRG. The terrain data base will eventually include the Fulda Gap, the Middle East, and the National Training Center at Ft . Irwin, CA. The system has a complete tactical operations center (TOC) for command and control, a logistics infrastructure for resupply, and a maneuver control console (MCC) for oDerating tactical air sumort. artillery, mortar fire, and other combat support and combat service support functions. Each simulator sends 7.5 data packets per second over the network to each of the other simulators, and to the Data Logger*rM, which records the packets from all the simulators for analytical use. The data packets contain information about that simulator's activity, its relation to all other activities/simulators on the terrain data base, and the terrain data base. Sample data packet information includes where it is on the terrain data base, vehicle speed, when and where it is hit, fuel and ammunition status when it fires, orientation of the gun tube, and what it can see. The Plan View Display is an analyst's work station, which gives him a view of the entire battlefield and every vehicle on it. The analyst can, with the touch of a mouse button, "call up" information about any vehicle on the battlefield. The Plan View Display possesses an "out-the-window display," which allows the analyst to look out any vision block of any Blue Force sirnulator. Additionally, the analyst can "fly out" onto the terrain data base using a stealth vehicle to position himself at any location and altitude he desires in order to see the battlefield. The stealth vehicle sends out no data packets, allowing the analyst to move about the battlefield without the crews in the manned simulators seeing him. At the completion of an exercise, the system stores the information from the data logger on a disk. The operator can then access, manipulate, and display it using powerful data reduction an? analytical -tools called DataProbelM and RS/lrM Dataprobe. The data reduction Y 1 - . 24 ARMOR - July-AUgUSt 1988 program retrieves and collects specific data elements from the stored data packets. RS/I formats the data Dataprobe retrieves, the way the analyst wants. For example, RS/I can format data into a chart or graph, which displays vehicle speed over time, rounds fired to target hits, etc. The analyst can specify any of the data elements in the data packet for analysis. He can make changes in the analy!ical software for each test, as needed. In traditional field testing, tests must be conductcd again if the data collected does not adcquately address the measure of effectiveness (MOE) or measure of performance (MOP). In BDSS, the analyst can modify the analytical software and use it again with the same data. The possible cost savings are obvious. BDSS is one of many combat development tools available. It works in concert with other tools, such as Janus"M, the Vetronics Crew Display Demonstrator, the Functional Analysis Work Station, and 3-D modcling devices; it does not replace them. The addition of BDSS to the combat developer's toolbox presents a holistic approach to combat developments. BDSS pcovidcs a timely, responsive and relatively inexpensive means to examine and evaluate concepts in a fully combined arms environment. It is an alternative to, or enhancement of, field testing and experimentation, for which costs are high and results are slow in coming. The developer can use BDSS to: 0 Refine a conceptual system hefore building hardware (requirements definition). 0 Pretest a ficld test to ensure adequacy and completeness of the test plan. 0 Supplement a field test for which realistic conditions are impractical or prohibitively expcnsive. 0 Test highly-classified concepts without exposing them in a field environment.

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Dltk Drlvet 0 Test concepts that are unsafe or environmentally prohibited in the field. 0 Pretrain personnel before field testing. Address gaps in field testing. Examine Manpower and Personnel Integration (MANPRINT) and human engineering issues. Developers should consider the BDSS as a computer-generated test facility and use it like the Combat Developments Experimentation Center at Fort Ord, CA. The advantage of the BDSS is its fully combined arms environment. Additionally, the system is ideal for tests that are too costly, too time consuming, or unsafe for normal ficld testing. The BDSS precludes separation of training developments, doctrine developments, and force structure from material developments. Hopefully, the BDSS will be able to assist the development of training strategy, doctrine development, and force structure to maximize the effectiveness of a materiel development. Therefore, as a new systcm is fielded, the training manuals - such as ARTEPs, TOSrEs, and "how-to-fight" manuals - can also be published and fielded. BDSS will play an important part in providing the Army with the equipment and doctrine it needs to fight and win on the extremely lethal battlefield of the future. Captain Robert M. Lynd, Jr. is a 1979 Distinguished Military Graduate of The Citadel. He has served as an armored cavalry platoon leader and troop XO with 4th Sqn., 12th Cav., 5th ID(Mech); S1, S2, and troop commander with 2d Sqn, 11th ACR; and BDS project officer at the Directorate of Combat Developments, Fort Knox. 25 ARMOR - July-AUgUSt 1988