Military 3-D Visualization Utilizing Gaming Technology

In support of Future Combat Systems (FCS), the U.S. Army is seeking to develop a solution that will allow the state-of-the-art in gaming technology to be integrated seamlessly into a planned military Command and control (C2) facility. This initiative will support C2 applications such as the Commander's support Environment, Combined Arms Planning and Execution Systems and the DaVinci Toolkit. In an effort to present a visual representation of the current simulation state of the C2 applications, a standard application programming interface (API) to the visualization component is necessary. However, existing applications provide data in various formats each unique to the application. CG2 proposes to develop the "Constructive Game Engine Abstraction Library" (conGEAL) API. This standardized API will work with C2 data models, XML Schema and DTD, as well as support NIMA maps and imagery and take live feeds from FCS military planning tools, in a networked environment. Work performed during this Phase I effort will include the investigation of existing game engine technologies and explore the integration of the game engines into the C2 environment via the conGEAL API. All aspects of the proposed conGEAL API will be investigated and recommendations made to ensure a successful completion of a prototype API in Phase II.