Environment for Surface ASW Interactive Learning (E-SAIL)

To address the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) training challenge of teaching Navy sonar operators advanced concepts and tactical-system operation in complex environments given constraints on training and compressed training cycles, Applied Research in Acoustics LLC (ARiA) will develop and evaluate the feasibility of E-SAIL, the Environment for Surface ASW Interactive Learning. Among the greatest challenges of training Navy sonar operators for the incredibly difficult task of sonar-system operation and employment is, first, helping them understand and internalize the relationships between phenomena observed on the sonar tactical displays and the corresponding phenomena and environmental conditions in the physical world and, second, helping sonar operators understand how, in practice, this knowledge of the mapping between the two domains can be utilized to improve tactical-system employment. E-SAIL addresses this problem by coupling intuitive three-dimensional visualizations of the ground-truth tactical situation and environmental data with real-time interactive rendering of recorded and simulated sonar data to provide operators with an understanding of complex environmental and tactical situations. In E-SAIL the presentation of and interface to visualizations and the underlying modeling and simulation is adapted to proficiency and learning-style of trainees, ensuring effective learning experiences for all operators.