Visualization and simulation tools provide valuable learning environments to train commanders, staff and company leadership to adapt and take initiative in a variety of operational environments (OEs). By creating new ways to visualize, simulate and interact with large sets of data, OE Flex® is helping prepare soldiers and first responders for modern challenges. OE Flex® is a collaborative visualization and learning environment built to both facilitate and assess the human processes that drive a decision making and enable analysis and comparison of leader actions.
OE Flex®, and similar products, are sometimes referred to as Wargaming. The credit for originating wargaming is given to the Prussians. In 1811, Herr von Reisswitz of Berlin received royal patronage for his newly invented wargame. This game evolved around realistic moves, a relief model and individual game pieces that represented units and troops. Simply stated, wargaming allows its users the opportunity to test concepts, actions and the use of equipment in a safe, non-lethal, and feedback driven environment. It is used across many industries to evaluate best practices in a training environment.
Today’s need for visualization and simulation teaching solutions is being driven by an increasingly complex OE. Because today’s warfighter must operate within rapidly-changing operational contexts, the interpretation and application of data is paramount to a team’s success.
Visualization Challenges
Current visualization tools often come with a very high learning curve. The prep for a training exercise can take months, requiring simulation experts to craft the synthetic operational environment. Simulations are typically not accessible to the wargamer and require simulation operators. Collaborating during the wargame design often requiring physically traveling to planning sessions. Subpar visualization fidelity is also the norm for gaming tools, making it difficult for planners to visualize the OE drawn on a 2D map into a 3D world.
The OE Flex® action planning tool is a multi-platform strategy exercise tool that visualizes data for assessing tactical effectiveness with instant feedback through simulation. As soldiers utilize OE Flex® in a training environment, they are immersed within a realistic mission planning and execution experience, able to make real-time combat maneuver decisions. Along with being aligned with best practices and standards, the tool gathers dense sets of data to create realistic simulations of the battlefield, and the life-or-death decisions that accompany complex emergency management activities.
Meeting the Needs of the Modern Wargamer
The wargaming community needs an accessible and clear visualization of the OE. An ideal solution will enable leaders, without the aid of simulation experts, to plan and execute mission requirements from cradle to grave.
With the OE Flex® solution, soldiers and first responders are able to dynamically respond to conditions , in real-time, against an AI or player-controlled set of challenges. The tool’s features are further enhanced by the ability to switch between sand-table and ride along views, which allow soldiers and first responders to view the situation from virtually any angle. The comprehensiveness of the OE Flex® training capability effectively combines data simulation/visualization with real-world scenarios to challenge and improve the operator’s tactical effectiveness against a realistic set of problems.
Plan, Test and Adjust
Leaders need clarity across all functions viewed in 2 or 3 dimensions or in a Virtual or Augmented realm. Leaders can plan, test, and adjust in a distributed, layered approach. The benefits of leveraging simulation, visualization and multimedia technologies, within training environments, cannot be overstated. These technologies allow us to present data and information in graphical, animated or visual formats so that decision makers and students are able to comprehend difficult concepts or identify hard-to-find patterns.
The OE Flex® platform enables multi-domain visualization of operations and an intuitive and accessible fashion for teams. The platform offers two versions; OE Flex® and OE Flex® EMS. As the complexities within modern OEs continues to grow, OE Flex® delivers training solutions that help military forces and first responders adapt to and prepare for new operational realities. Contact us today to learn how Threat Tec’s visualization and simulation technologies can help achieve your training objectives.