Simulation of Cb Environment

7/22/2019 Simulation of Cb Environment

1/4

Published in the DoD MSIAC On-Li ne Journalhttp://www.msiac.dmso.mil/journal/cb_simulation.html

WINTER ISSUE 2000 | VOLUME 1, I SSUE No. 2

Simulation of CB Environments and Detection Systems in Support of Simulation

Based Acquisition1

Dennis L. Jones

Manager, Simulation Section

ITT IndustriesAlexandria, VA

[email protected]

703-329-7181

Dr. John R. White

Modeling and Simulation Team Leader

Edgewood Chemical Biological Center

Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD

[email protected]

410-436-1775

For the past five years, ITT Industries Simulation and Training Department in Alexandria, VA, has

worked to develop a nuclear, chemical, biological, and radiological modeling and simulation toolset. TheArmys Soldier and Biological Chemical Command (SBCCOM), Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, is the

configuration management proponent of this toolset, leading a consortium of Government agencies

sponsoring the toolset development. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has been a principal

contributor to the consortium, funding the bulk of the toolsets migration to the DoDs High Level

Architecture. At the heart of the toolset are a distributed simulation-compliant weapons of mass

destruction environment simulator and simulations of the sensor and detection systems that the Services

have developed to detect and operate in these environments. The DoD has used this toolset to support the

research, development, and testing of and training for nuclear, chemical, biological, and radiological active

and passive defense equipment, including detection and warning or messaging systems. While the toolset

supports nuclear and radiological environment simulation, the bulk of the resources invested in

development of this capability has been directed at chemical and biological detection and messaging

systems.

The centerpiece of ITTs simulation toolset is the Nuclear, Chemical, Biological, and Radiological (NCBR)environment simulation. ITT personnel integrated existing codes and tools within an ITT-designed

architecture relying on distributed simulation protocols and architectures toin real timecalculate high-

fidelity, three-dimensional (3D) hazard environments as a function of threat delivery system,

meteorological conditions and complex (3D) terrain. The NCBR is compliant with IEEEs protocols for

Distributed Interactive Simulation and the DoDs emerging architecture for simulation, the mandated High

Level Architecture. The DTRA SCIPUFF and the Naval Surface Warfare Centers VLSTRACK Gaussian

puff models provide the means for the NCBR to calculate hazard environments. The NCBR makes the data

available to other simulations via full 3D representations of the environments (instantaneous air

concentration), 2D grids (dose, deposition, air concentration, and lethal dose, or LD, contours), and at a

point via a subscription process. The figure below portrays a sample 2D conformal (to terrain) NCBR

instantaneous air concentration calculation showing the effect of complex terrain on a cloud resulting from

a biological line source.

1Portions of this article were derived from an article in the Summer 1999 issue of the CBIAC Newsletter.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


2/4



The NCBR utilizes complex terrain in hazard concentration calculations.

To provide nuclear environments, the NCBR uses DTRAs External Blast (XBLAST) and Version 6 of

Atmospheric Transport of Radiation (ATRv6) codes as the means for calculating the blast and prompt

radiation environments from tactical nuclear warheads. The NCBR provides these data to the network by

publishing axis-symmetric 2D grids and 1D (line) arrays. Simulations receiving these data rotate the lines

and grids about the origin of symmetry to obtain a full 2D or 3D environment.

A second key component of the architecture is CB Modular Semi-automated Forces (CB ModSAF), a

widely used Army computer generated forces model that the consortium has modified to represent CB

battlefields. ITT has added functionality to ModSAF to represent point biological and chemical sensors, the

Fox M93A1 and Joint Lightweight NBC Reconnaissance Systems, NBC message flow, and entities receive

hazard environments from the NCBR via a subscription process. CB ModSAF gives the community a tool

to provide operational context to computer-driven (constructive) simulations. ITT is currently working withthe Armys Chemical School and the Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) to

include the CB functionality in the OneSAF distributed baseline.

The suite is rounded out with performance-based simulations of a variety of point and standoff, active and

passive, chemical and biological sensor systems of varying degrees of fidelity.

Three recent applications of the toolset demonstrate the suites capability in supporting the DoDs initiative

in simulation-based acquisition. Supporting the Armys Chemical School, and in cooperation with the

Program Manager, Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Defense, ITT recently installed a M93A1 Fox Training

Suite at the Chemical School (Ft. McClellan, AL). The M93A1 Fox is a six-wheeled armored vehicle

equipped with a fully integrated nuclear and chemical detection, warning and communications capability

(shown in the figure below), with the additional capability to sample NBC contamination for future

analysis. The Fox Training Suite contains two Fox vehicle shells with out-the-window simulation displays

that operate on common virtual terrain with simulated hazard environments. This synthetic environment is

completely safe yet fully capable of replicating today's vast array of chemical, biological, and radiological

(less on the radiological) threats. The software emulation of the threat addresses the training communitys

current inability to simulate the hazardous nature of the environments that must be created in order to

effectively train students. The Fox Training Suite allows students to train against the threats they will

likely encounter. The distributed nature of the simulation architecture allows students to train as individual

crews andin tandem with another Fox vehicle as they are doctrinally employed in real situations. Team

training of this nature was not possible before the installation of the Fox Training Suite. This same


3/4



distributed simulation architecture also enables the use of these trainers as part of larger war-gaming

exercises.

ITT used simulation to stimulate real hardware and look-and-feel mockup Fox chemical detection

systems.

The second example of the suite involves the developmental test and evaluation associated with the Army

Biodetection Advanced Technology Demonstration, or Bio ATD. To support the Bio ATD, ITT developed

a point biological agent sensor server that calculated hazard agent particle counts for a real sensor array

monitoring natural background particle counts.2The contractor for the sensor system, Lockheed

Librascope, modified the sensors to receive virtual particle counts. These individual-sensor particle counts

were then compared against natural backgrounds with a detection logic algorithm to determine if the

complete system should be sent into alarm. By using this architecture, Bio ATD personnel were able to

experiment with different alarm/detection schema for varying hazard environments. In this reachbacksupport testing, only a laptop computer and router/modem were required at the location of the sensors.

Environment and sensor simulations provided particle counts to sensors in the field in Glendale, CA, Nellis

AFB, NV, Ft. Lewis, WA, and Dugway Proving Ground, UT, via standard phone lines from Alexandria,

VA.

In the third example, ITT supported PM NBCs Joint Service Lightweight Standoff Chemical Agent

Detector (JSLSCAD) program manager with a simulation study examining the optimum field of sensor

regard for varying terrain types.3 The JSLSCAD is a fully automatic, 360-degree scanning, detect-on-the-

move, passive standoff (up to 5 km) chemical agent detector. The 72-Hz JSLSCAD operates on a variety

of platforms, detecting nerve, blister and blood agent vapors. For the 7-week project, ITT developed the

JSLSCAD Distributed Simulation (JLDS), an easily configurable, reusable, sensor model that is attachable

to any entity. An ITT-developed M93 FOX NBC reconnaissance vehicle simulatorcontaining a high-

fidelity mobility model of the FOXserved as an unstabilized sensor platform, and ModSAF provided a

stabilized platform. Study personnel disseminated Sarin (GB) via chemical artillery barrages using the

Nuclear, Chemical, Biological, and Radiological (NCBR) Environment Simulator. The two-week, 36-trial

2OConnor, M.J., Liebert, Ralph, and Jones, D.L., et al. Use of Virtual Environments to Support

Developmental Testing of the Biological Aerosol Warning System (BAWS), presented at the Fall 1999

Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization Simulation Interoperability Workshop (99F-SIW-033.),

Orlando, FL, September 1999.3Christow, George, and Jones, Dennis L.. Joint Leightweight Standoff Chemical Agent Detector

(JSLSCAD) Distributed Simulation System/Subsystem Specification, 12 August 1999.


4/4



study included three different terrain profiles (rolling, hilly, mountainous), and each of those profiles had

three fields of regard and three agent cloud releases. The data collected in this experiment consisted of data

logs and a semi-colon delimited ASCII text file containing all of the positive sensor scans. The JSLSCAD

PM is using the data derived from this study to support the systems critical design review.

The modular JSLSCAD simulation architecture provided valuable design data for the systems

Critical Design Review.

The Services are currently exploring a variety of applications of this toolset across the range of CB defense

materiel items lifetime, from R&D through test and evaluation and training, fully realizing the DoDs

initiative in simulation-based acquisition. The concepts also have applicability in the homeland defense,

force protection, and domestic preparedness programs of the FBI, Department of Justice, and state and

local governments.

Documents

Simulation of Cb Environment