| Notes |
Preface
The entertainment industry and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)—though differing widely in their motivations, objectives, and cul- tures—share a growing interest in modeling and simulation. In enter- tainment, modeling and simulation technology is a key component of a $30 billion annual market for video games, location-based entertainment, theme parks, and films. In defense, modeling and simulation provides a cost-effective means of conducting joint training; developing new doc- trine, tactics, and operational plans; assessing battlefield conditions; and evaluating new and upgraded systems.
Recognizing this synergy, DOD’s Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (DMSO) asked the National Research Council’s Computer Science and Telecommunications Board to convene a multidisciplinary commit- tee to evaluate the extent to which the entertainment industry and DOD might be able to better leverage each other’s capabilities in modeling and simulation technology and to identify potential areas for greater collabo- ration (see Appendix C for committee members’ biographies). The com- mittee met in June and August 1996 to plan a two-day workshop that was held in Irvine, California, in October 1996 (see Appendixes A and B for the workshop agenda and list of participants). It met again in No- vember 1996 to discuss the results of the workshop and to plan the struc- ture and format of this summary report.
The workshop brought together more than 50 representatives of the entertainment and defense research communities to discuss technical challenges facing the two industries, identify obstacles to successful shar-
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Modeling and Simulation: Linking Entertainment and Defense
viii PREFACE
ing of technology and joint research, and suggest mechanisms for facili- tating greater collaboration. Participants were drawn from the film, vid- eo game, location-based entertainment, and theme park industries; DOD; defense contractors; and universities. They included top executives and government program managers as well as engineers, film directors, re- searchers from industry and academia, and university faculty. Through a series of presentations on electronic storytelling, strategy and war gam- ing, experiential computing and virtual reality, networked simulation, and low-cost simulation hardware, the committee attempted to encour- age dialogue among these diverse stakeholders and stimulate discussion of research areas of interest to both the entertainment and defense indus- tries. Because the workshop represented one of the first formal attempts to bridge the gap between the entertainment and defense communities, the committee also hoped to encourage personal contacts between mem- bers of the two communities as a means of facilitating future collabora- tion. As such, the 1996 workshop should be seen as part of an ongoing process that may continue beyond this project and this report.
This report represents the committee’s attempt to capture key themes of the workshop discussions. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the applications of modeling and simulation technology in the entertainment and defense industries and discusses the historical flows of technology between them. It also reviews the potential benefits to collaboration and outlines the underlying technologies of modeling and simulation in which collaboration may be possible. Chapter 2 identifies common tech- nical needs of DOD and the entertainment industry, identifying and de- scribing areas in which the entertainment and defense communities ap- pear to have similar interests and in which collaboration, at some level, may be possible. Chapter 3 describes other issues that must be addressed in order to facilitate collaboration and sharing of research. These include the needs to develop the necessary human resources, establish mecha- nisms for information sharing and technology transfer, strengthen the research base, and overcome cultural differences between the two com- munities. As Chapter 3 notes, collaboration between the entertainment and defense research communities will require far more than a list of common research interests. Structures must be put in place to facilitate collaboration and to allow greater sharing of information between the two communities; differences in culture and business practices must be overcome, though not necessarily altered. Putting these elements in place will facilitate collaboration over time on an ever-changing set of common technologies and research areas.
This report benefited from the contributions of many people through- out the modeling and simulation community. Workshop participants, through their presentations and discussion, provided the committee with
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Modeling and Simulation: Linking Entertainment and Defense
PREFACE ix
much of the material used in this report. The committee is especially grateful to those participants who submitted position papers outlining the research challenges in their particular fields of interest. The commit- tee drew from these papers in preparing this report; the papers are repro- duced in Appendix D. External reviewers of an early draft of this report also provided valuable comments.
Staff members of the U.S. Army’s Topographic Engineering Center and Joint Precision Strike Demonstration provided the committee with an informative demonstration of state-of-the-art military systems for bat- tlefield visualization and real-time, man-in-the-loop, networked simula- tion. David Wray, of DMSO, provided hours of videotaped visual simu- lations for the committee to examine and excerpt. Several volunteers set up and operated a variety of entertainment and military demonstration systems during the 1996 workshop to provide participants with hands- on experience: Charles Benton of Technology Systems Inc., Michael Bilo- deau of Spectrum HoloByte Inc., Steven Carter of Thrustmaster Inc., Leon Dennis of the Armstrong Laboratories at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Brian Kalita of BBN Corporation, and Greg Lutz of Motorola’s Govern- ment Electronics Division. Robin Scheer, of Spectrum HoloByte Inc., worked tirelessly to arrange the entertainment demonstrations and to contact participants for the strategy and war games session of the work- shop. Fred Zyda orchestrated audiovisual presentations during the work- shop, demonstrated video games for participants when called upon, and selected video clips and edited the videotape for the “Introductory Com- monalities” presentation.
Finally, thanks are due the sponsors of this study. Anita Jones, as director of defense research and engineering, conceived of the project and ensured its realization. James Hollenbach, Mark Jefferson, and Ju- dith Dahmann of DMSO, with support from Terry Hines, of the MITRE Corporation, provided necessary guidance and support for the project and facilitated the participation of the defense community in its comple- tion.
Michael Zyda, Chair
Committee on Modeling and Simulation: |