Assessing Decision-Making Skills in Virtual Environments

ScenPro, Inc. proposes to develop the Virtual Soldier Skills Assessor (ViSSA), a set of three components that work together to allow an Urban Soldier trainer to effectively assess soldier and small unit leader decision-making skills. The first componentallows the trainer to annotate a virtual urban environment (associated with a specific scenario) with features relevant to decision-making such as optimal routes, decision points, engagement rules, and sub-team formation. The second component is a DIS/HLAcompatible software system that monitors the actions of a soldier and assesses their decision-making skills based upon the features previously specified by the trainer. This second component will report this assessment to the trainer. The third componentwill be a Trainer's Tool that can be used by the trainer to observe the soldier's progress during a training simulation.A viable Virtual Soldier Skills Assessor will be useful to a wide range of government and private sector organizations. There is a clearneed for such a tool within the military and civilian training communities that have embraced Dismounted Infantryman technology. In military applications, it is likely that the technology can be transferred to work with other virtual objects such as tanksand aircraft. With minimum modifications, products could be developed to aid in the assessment of tank commanders, tank drivers, tank platoon commanders, pilots, and section leaders.We have held discussions with Raytheon's Systems Analysis and SimulationCenter regarding a potential Phase II/III partnership, and Raytheon has expressed interest in participating in the commercialization of this work. In civilian applications, this technology may be of significant benefit in the training of Police/Fire/EMSpersonnel. There is a clear need for such a tool within this sector which will allow for identification, tracking, and documentation of critical decision points made during the course of training. By identifying decision strengths/weaknesses of theindividual during a high-risk training scenario, the trainer will be able to focus in on these issues, which will allow for corrective actions resulting in a more ideal training outcome. This may, in turn, reduce poor decisions made in the field, therebyreducing the frequency of critical errors in rapid decision-making during high-risk urban situations.