With all the talk about a next generation “Digital Twin” aviation combat element or “next generation” MAGTF, there is no official Service document that defines either of these terms, not to mention how they should be realised. Like many other new concepts, the development of next-generation concepts are too general and need refinement to provide a vision with tangible, executable initiatives that will deliver true capability to the warfighter.
The goal of MAGTF digital interoperability is to provide the required information to the right participants at the right time in order to ensure mission success, i.e., defeating the threat, while improving efficiency and effectiveness.
The Marine Corps executes mission “Digital Twins” primarily as an integrated MAGTF, organised to support the war fighter. The integration of the MAGTF and the successful execution of mission threads rely on the effective exchange of critical information; communication, whether in the form of electronic data or voice, is critical to the exchange of mission-essential information. An effective network infrastructure is required in order to achieve effective end-to-end communication.
This approach provides the additional advantage of responsible spectrum use, which becomes increasingly important as spectrum demands increase, as technology advances, and as our MAGTFs continually operate in more distributed and disaggregated operations.
In order to be digitally interoperable, each platform must be enabled from end to end in terms of the equipment required to be digitally capable. At a minimum, a platform must possess and integrate the following four things to be digitally interoperable:
Sensors take information from the environment and turns it into digital data; examples include aircraft survivability equipment, targeting pods, and a Marine’s situational awareness.
Computer processors take the digital data from the sensors and translate and format it for display or transport; examples include overhead in existing platform mission computers, additional processor cards in both related or unrelated systems, and standalone processors.
An interface allows the system user to interact with the translated and formatted data from the processor; examples include integrated Multi-Function Display, a handheld electronic tablet, and a laptop computer.
Radios and associated antennas transmit and receive the translated and formatted data. Each of these components is required to fulfill the information exchange requirements in a constant integrated loop.
The Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command Battle Simulation Center is providing deploying Marines with a variety of cutting-edge virtual training tools to help them prepare for today’s combat scenarios.
The Marine Corps uses parts of kinetic and virtual training to enhance their readiness, the Battle Simulation Center is one of several virtual training facilities aboard the Combat Center.
The Battle Simulation Center supports the Corps by providing units with various training simulations that assist in individual, small unit and staff level operations. The technology available helps the Marines feel a sense of realism of their environment as well as provide communication with artillery units, aircrafts and other Marines.
Marines must apply a robust systems engineering approach that balances total system performance total ownership costs within the family-of-systems, systems-of-systems context. Plan must describe the overall technical approach of Industry, including processes, resources, metrics, and applicable performance incentives.
Marines must also detail the timing, conduct, and success criteria of technical reviews.” Systems engineering can be defined as an iterative process of top-down integration development, and operation of a real-world system that satisfies full range of system requirements.
Systems Simulations must provide conditions for Marines to work together on a set of inputs to achieve the desired output where the output is a system/capability that meets user needs and requirements in a near optimal manner. Systems Simulations must account for the entire range of the system/capability acquisition to include development, construction, deployment /fielding, operation, support, training, and verification.
Systems Simulations ensures that the correct technical tasks are accomplished during the training process through planning, tracking, and activities coordination Lead Systems Marines must simulate what skills are required for developing the capability to master various systems of modern combat.
The Battle Simulation Center trains Marines from units throughout the battle structures of the Service and. will continue to provide Marines the training they need in preparation for their field exercises and ultimately their deployments.
In constructive training the Marines can see what is supposed to be done in certain situations. Once the Marines understand what to do they move onto virtual training, where they can put their knowledge into action.
The simulations allow the Marines to receive live feedback from their instructors, this allows the Marines to make mistakes and be corrected without risk of injury or loss of resources. After the Marines have had a chance to practice and be coached in a safe environment they can move on to live training.
Outside of expensive training time there are few opportunities to train on what is essentially high-stress multitasking. While a game engine is no substitute for getting in a combat vehicle and putting it and its crew through their paces, the stress of a “Digital Twin” game engine can be an powerful addition to modern training toolkits.
“Digital Twin Simulation” allows two teams to take the role of various bridge crewmembers on a starship. The players are assigned to one or more roles, operating the various systems of their ship.
Many skill sets must be in the training tool box-- “Engineering” provides power to the other bridge positions. “Helm” maneuvers the ship. “Weapons” prepares and fires torpedoes at the enemy. “Sensors,” “Shields,” and “Tractor Beam” have duties as well.
Tactical Boot Camp Design curriculums include training in simulation application design where One player acts as captain, charged with making sense of the great mess that develops against another team of players on a similar enemy ship.
A “Digital Twin” Virtual Reality representation of a physical asset-- anything from a single control valve to a machine, a production line makes predictive Design feedback possible.
The goal of the combat engine is to manoeuvre a model of a spaceship on the playing board, collecting essential supply items avoiding collisions with astronomical bodies, and destroying the enemy.
Players roll customised dice for each duty station to perform their functions—if their station has power. For example, the helm station has dice with symbols indicating various combinations of forward movement for one or two spaces, coming about, and turns to port or starboard. While powered, the helmsman may roll the helm dice and set aside those manoeuvers that fulfill the captain’s orders at each decision point. The other stations also have custom dice tailor-made for their particular functions.
The captain keeps schedules moving by directing the movement of energy from engineering to all of the other divisions. All the while, the enemy team is doing the same thing. Commands are issued and countermanded. The departments can indicate they need more power.
Everyone is rolling dice during simulations like at a craps table, looking for the right combination of symbols that will load a torpedo tube or raise a shield or move the ship to just the right spot to fire on the enemy. Meanwhile, the teams steal glances across the table to see what the enemy is doing. It is stressful, barely controlled chaos.
Establishing strategic communications between agents within the “Digital Twin” construct must be used to direct power requirements trade-off design characteristics of ship components in the simulation under fluid and constant operating conditions.
Except when combat begins or the tractor beam is activated, both teams continuously roll dice, ready systems, and manoeuvre. Being able to think and make decisions on the fly about immediate needs while looking forward to the next requirement-- and the one after that is definitely a valuable skill to develop before it is needed in the real world.
“We break up our training into live, virtual, and constructive training,” Live training consists of real people using real systems, virtual training is live people using virtual systems and constructive training is virtual people using virtual systems.”
“The different assets the Marines train with in the simulation can range from the M9 service pistol to mortars, shot guns, and heavy machine guns,” The center also has different vehicle simulations where Marines can practice movement of troops dealing with enemy resistance, and many other situations where Marines would have to think on their feet.”
“Digital Twin” Simulations allow for training route pattern layout flexibility without making design and identification of installation location too complex. Valid operational results based on capacity prediction are designed to develop new mechanistic simulation training route models. During this process, transition instances between any "Digital Twin” pair states can be represented by considering conditional probabilities in sequential series.
The end result of “Digital Twin” training script generation is a probability function that pick-ups in an origin zone would transit to particular destination zone at a particular time determined by the Simulation network. The probability that agents will choose a particular mode for training script generation between each pair of “Digital Twin” zones is based on the relative pick-up benefits associated with each mode option detailing different component types.
Training route service segments are assigned to particular training script generation paths through an iterative process that considers temporal factors along alternative quote networks. Planning models for agents can provide the number of trips and times made by each component types between the “Digital Twin” zones and system wide, transit speeds along route service segments, and pick-up mode splits dependent on the how details of the temporal mode choice models have advanced.
In a force structure determination involving only one set of Digital Twins, agents assigned priority status because one of the two installations would conduct coordinated calls over quote network interface system through local network calls which resulted in the number of routing trips to be half of that required if both installations were sending packets over the network for simulation routes.
Agents can consider expanding the training route patterns over multiple installations so it became clear that implementation of new quote network interface features had become much more complex so agents decided to advise separate training route patterns.
The quote network Simulation maintains a list of routes, each of which is connected to a single installation. For the duration of the programme execution, a cycle is maintained through the force structure list designed to provide options in meeting the requirements of surge contingency scenarios. Agents are charged with checking to see if any packets are waiting to be read from each simulation route.
Controls on board route service tracking requirements must be programmed differently to factor in common work order braking rates and operating speeds when equipment training simulations based on condition indices could occupy two or more track blocks for surge contingency scenarios.
Mission Reliability Digital Twin model must be constructed to depict the intended utilisation of elements to achieve mission success. Elements of the item intended for alternate modes of operation must be modeled in a parallel configuration or similar Lego Block Asset Construct appropriate to the mission phase and mission application.
The number of Fleet Simulation system asset identification tags available to operations involved in determining force structure for operations that require restructuring designed using factors including availability, acquisition and records disposal. Information is used as an input for assessing the outcome of interactions between installations in the system availability quote networks.
An installation site development of Simulation asset tracking deployment should be reviewed and based on substitute resources when use has been established—tagging and tracking of asset implementation has several iterations.
Simulation deployments are paired to “Digital Twin” training scripts pairs in the quote network in the entrance to the training test script scenario builder so there exists operational commitment, and the status update is dispatched.
The training script directive passes through a bottleneck and is tagged in the quote network upon deployment with a redundant logging system and route performance metrics are entered when the Simulation deployment proceeds from the installation where use is monitored.
Tracking tags detailing operational risks can be designed as components of the quote network, contributing to process control leading to customised action for training script dispatch that accounts for the results of substitute resource programmes that mitigate against the accumulation of adverse risk factors that could contribute to inaccurate dispatch of asset identification tags for inclusion in the quote network, before installations apply a time stamp to the asset tracking status update record.
The construction of training script contingency scenarios has developed substitute Simulation Asset Tracking Identification Tags required for deployment through the implementation of combining several elements of application types for route performance metrics.
“Digital Twin” duplicate assets are procured in the quote network when substitute resource techniques cannot be identified, and Simulation portfolio pooling is not possible. Network quote technology can support a wide range of applications, from asset tracking to process control and have implementation-specific requirements.
Asset tracking applications are used to identify resource techniques designed to mitigate against risks to the programme. An important difference between relatively simple Simulation deployment contingency scenarios an advanced asset tracking applications is that simple systems can detect the presence of physical or operational factors in a single network.
But asset tracking programmes require more than one “Digital Twin” pass through the system as well as more frequent quote network determinations so the route performance metrics can aggregate and correlate information for each operational line item.
If the primary purpose of the Simulation Deployment application is tracking operational risk factors rather than specific physical items, then the network status update changes frequently according to deployment phase. In access control applications, if an asset identification tag code acts as a key for a individual physical item, then nothing should change once the items are linked by Digital Twins.”
As Marines begin to tackle operational challenges to compete in 21st century combat, expeditionary logistics is an area receiving extra attention to ensure troops are more agile and effective.
The Battle Simulation Center works closely with the MAGTF Integrated Systems Training Center, which focuses of command and control systems training focused primarily on larger-scale training, meaning the company, battalion and regimental levels, while other efforts are being designed to train Marines at the fire team through platoon levels working on integrating simulations with live training exercises. “One of the things we’re looking at is the integration of live forces in the field with virtual and constructive simulation.
If a company is training in the field alone, we can simulate other units on the battlefield that don’t really exist, but are needed for staff planning purposes. ”Constructive simulation is fully operational.
"The idea behind the Simulation Construct effort is to create a persistent capability which permits collective training in distributed/constructive scenarios in order to enhance integrated training," "During Simulations Marine pilots, Joint Terminal Attack Controllers, the Direct Air Support Center and Fire Support Coordination Center/Fire Direction Center will train in conjunction with battalion staff using distributed simulation."
"Using multiple simulations together does create a lot of challenges and issues, such as making sure that one model that comes up in one simulation will appear the same way in another and making sure that the terrain is the same across all platforms,""We continue to work through these issues to try to refine the simulations and make them more realistic."
Another goal of the Simulation initiative is to provide more realistic training for Marines,. The Ground Training Simulation Implementation Plan uses simulations allowing Marines and units to replicate situations and conditions that are more difficult to enact in certain on-the-ground training scenarios.
"This training helps to emphasise operational cohesion by providing more realism in an exercise where you're relying on the proficiency of other Marines, as well as the realistic scenarios of the uncertainty and miscommunication that can occur when it's real individuals participating instead of a role player," "It allows for more development on critical thinking and exposure to non-standard events and increased integration with external factors."
We are getting the support and flexibility from the Marines who are participating because they understand that there are challenges associated with experimental training exercises,""The feedback we get from them helps to shape the way we move forward with setting up future simulation-based exercises. This wouldn't be possible without the support of the Marines and agencies participating."
Marines are testing these capabilities by participating in “Digital Twin” live-fire command post exercises. Some of those vehicles will be autonomous weapon systems that are set to demonstrate their ability to reduce the need for dedicated manpower on often dangerous re-supply logistics missions.
When Marine Leaders describe the expeditionary logistics experiment, a major goal is to demonstrate the capabilities of autonomous weapon systems, in force protection, building and delivery of supplies to isolated troops, through hazard zones.”
Autonomous systems will also be on display during enhanced logistics base experiments. They are expected to demonstrate the ability of autonomous and automated systems with an aim toward significantly improving military logistics by upgrading services and downgrading manpower.
To test the ability of autonomous weapon systems to protect expeditionary bases, forces will “demonstrate a set-up where unattended ground sensors, shot detection sensors and camera-based sensors are fused and report to a unified user interface on the Command and Control system. The activity will incorporate unmanned ground, air and surface systems in the sensor package.
Remotely operated weapon stations will be operated both as sensors and as weapon platforms to engage resistance. As with other experiments during the exercise, the point of the drill is to demonstrate how autonomous systems can reduce the number of personnel needed for key expeditionary missions.
As rapidly deployable force, single force structure units are likely to be involved in several mission types. So what equipment is needed to support all types of missions, and what are effects of shortfalls on mission success? First, appropriate missions must be identified:
1. Amphibious raid/assault: Adopt open systems approach to monitor internal/external interface compatibility for systems and subsystems
2. Interdiction operations: Track decision making events for technical information meet requirements
3. Advance force operations : Isolate/verify balanced and robust solutions that best meet requirements
4. Stability operations : Elicit requirements from parties and potential product/service users
5. Tactical recovery of aircraft/personnel: Execute total system design solution to balance schedule, performance, and risk
6. Joint/combined operations : Provide for focus/structure of interdisciplinary teams for system and major subsystem level design
7. Aviation shore-based site ops : Create cost-effective and supportable system throughout asset service life
8. Direct action operations: Define executable and verifiable requirements solutions
9. Airfield seizure operations: Establish baselines and configuration control for each phase in process
10. Special reconnaissance: Validate and prioritise action tracking requirements