Web-Based 3D Reconstruction of Scenarios for Limited Objective Experiments

Proceedings of the 2002 Summer Computer Simulation Conference, San Diego CA, 17-19 July 2002. The military is planning and conducting a large number of Limited Objective Experiments (LOEs) to explore new doctrine, organization, tactics, and technology with the objective of more rapidly transforming today’s forces to better address the threat environment of the 21st Century. Web-based 3D technology is being investigated as a tool for creating reconstructions of LOE scenarios, enabling analysts to visualize and evaluate the actions that occurred or, if applicable, should have occurred. Moreover, creation of these virtual environments allows the analyst to consider alternative events, and to view them as if they had occurred (alternative realities). These alternatives can form the basis for deeper analysis of the scenario employed in the experiment or for planning follow-on experiments, to be conducted in the real world or in the virtual world. Indeed, the virtual world itself becomes an experimentation environment that can be manipulated by the analyst or explored through simulation techniques, such as agent-based simulation, to examine the space of potential outcomes. This paper describes work performed by the Naval Postgraduate School in support of a Force Protection LOE and a Joint Futures Laboratory Peer-to-Peer Communications LOE using web-based 3D graphics, with preliminary agent-based simulation to explore the range of potential scenario outcomes.