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The purpose of this paper is to describe ThoughtLink's FY99 work to create a distributed, interactive, collaborative environment (DICE) prototype suitable for joint task force (JTF) training, exercise planning, and operational use. An experiment to be held in late 1999 is planned to demonstrate how DICE will be used in an interagency/military exercise planning context.
The paper will provide background on the project, discuss JTF training needs in the area of operations other than war (OOTW) that were identified during ThoughtLink's research in FY98, and describe the functional capability of the prototype. The prototype will be used in an experiment at the end of FY99. The paper will describe the experiment in more detail: its purpose, interim results to date, and other planned FY99 activities. The paper will conclude with our findings to date, focusing on how collaboration technologies might improve the military's ability to conduct exercise planning and training with outside agencies and organizations.
Background: In FY98, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funded ThoughtLink to explore the utility of collaboration and computer game technologies for JTF training in the area of operations other than war. The final product of the FY98 task was a report describing a distributed collaborative environment suitable for applications with multiple distributed users. These applications include training, exercise planning, and operational use.
In FY99, DARPA and CCRP are co-funding ThoughtLink to develop a DICE prototype, working with an operational user. The operational user will help ThoughtLink define the requirements for DICE and will host a small experiment using DICE. ThoughtLink will develop the prototype, define the experiment, and document the results, to include an assessment of the utility of DICE.
Need: An early observation in our FY98 review of today's JTF training for OOTW was that training occurred at two ends of the training spectrum, with a void in the middle. At one end of the spectrum are low-cost, low-tech alternatives: academic training and seminar games. These methods are used for small groups (2-200); have a narrow focus; and are relatively static (once developed, the content doesn't radically change with each new training audience). At the opposite end of the spectrum is the simulation-supported command post exercise (CPX). This method is very expensive (typically $1M+) and involves a large training audience (100-1,000) supported by almost equally large training support organization. Although technology is used in the form of simulations, these are normally concealed from the training audience.
It appears that there is utility in developing training methods to fit in the middle of the spectrum: medium-cost and medium-fidelity. Such methods have many benefits. A medium-cost and medium fidelity solution should allow staffs to train more frequently (currently they train about once every 18-24 months); increase participation from the international organization (IO) and non-governmental organization (NGO) communities; support training of partial staffs; and highlight the OOTW-specific skills that differ most from combat skills, including the need for collaboration and consensus-building. New methods would not replace current JTF training, but would augment it.
DICE is a low-cost, web-based, distributed collaboration environment that has been specifically formulated to meet the preceding requirements. It focuses on using non-proprietary, integrated, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and government off-the-shelf (GOTS) products.
Two current trends make the DICE environment feasible at this time. First, Internet-based collaboration tools are maturing and becoming more widely available. Secondly, low-cost gaming and entertainment techniques are becoming more accepted in military training. The Marine Corps is developing a brigade-level game, MEU 2000, in conjunction with MaK Technologies. MaK is also developing an armor platoon game, Spearhead II, for the Army, and, the Navy is starting a program to identify COTS games to be used for training. So far, most of these gaming environments are focused at tactical level tasks. The DICE environment would focus at strategic and operational level tasks.
The DICE Prototype: DICE will run over a wide area or local area network and support distributed communication and collaboration among its participants. It will feature a persistent workspace that is shared by all users and contains electronic documents, images, and shared applications. A set of collaboration tools will be provided. These will allow users to participate from their home stations, communicating with each other via video-teleconferencing (VTC), audio, text chat, e-mail, and white boarding.
DICE is designed from the outset to be a generic tool that supports multiple distributed participants, working in a collaborative fashion to prepare work products. DICE can be applied to multiple domains. For OOTW, it can be used for exercise planning, training exercise execution, and with additional work could be used as an operational tool.
The DICE prototype will be developed in FY99. Working with the operational user, requirements will be defined during the first quarter of FY99 and specific COTS or GOTS tools will be chosen. These will be integrated into a prototype during the summer. An experiment using the prototype will be conducted in the fall. An informal assessment of the prototype's utility will be conducted.
Results: The goal of the FY99 DICE experiment is to assess DICE's utility for enhancing interagency/military collaboration and training; for both the planning of large-scale training exercises and its ability to serve as a new training environment to augment current training alternatives.
As of January, we are exploring the possibility that the National Defense University (NDU) and the US Atlantic Command (ACOM) will be the operational users. They would assist in requirements definition for DICE and host a small experiment using DICE. The FY99 experiment would explore the utility of DICE in exercise planning, as several government agencies, led by NDU, prepare guidance to be used in a US European Command (EUCOM) JTF training exercise supported by ACOM. The EUCOM JTF training exercise, called Brave Knight, will feature a Consequence Management scenario in Poland. In March 1999, various US government agencies will create strategic guidance, as described in PDD-56, for the JTF to use in the exercise. The JTF training exercise will be conducted in August 1999.
Some of the factors to be examined in the DICE experiment include: 1) does DICE augment the authenticity of large-scale exercises by providing an environment where interagency participation is facilitated; 2) does the use of DICE improve the scenario products for large-scale training exercises; 3) how might DICE be used to train partial military staffs, including IO and NGO participation; and 4) can DICE be an effective training vehicle.
