6/20/14, 4:04 PM Defense.
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EDGE, for Enhanced Dynamic Geosocial Environment,
is a research project prototype funded by the Joint IED
Defeat Organization in Washington that combines the
virtual world, Army simulation and computer gaming
technology to make the first firefight no worse than the
last simulation. U.S. Army graphic
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution
image available.
Fighting Bombs in Cyberspace Gives Army an EDGE
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2011 Afghan people and places are being replicated in cyberspace, giving warfighters
a way to train for one of the most complex, deadly situations they will face on the ground.
The fight against improvised explosive devices or
homemade bombs -- weapons of choice for terrorists
everywhere -- has lots of moving parts. Thats why the Joint
IED Defeat Organization here is funding a research project
prototype that combines technology from virtual worlds,
Army simulations and computer gaming.
Were down here today working on a product called EDGE
-- Enhanced Dynamic Geosocial Environment, Matt
Kaufman, chief of technology and integration at the Armys
Training and Doctrine Command, told American Forces
Press Service. The command sponsors the JIEDDO-funded
prototype, which has been in development for about six
months.
Kaufman and other experts at the Army Simulation and
Training Technology Center in Orlando, Fla., talked about
the effort to integrate massively multiplayer online gaming
technology like that used in the wildly popular World of
Warcraft game, with a virtual world environment and an
accurate Army simulation called OneSAF, short for One Semi Automated Forces.
Our goal, Kaufman said, is to be able to recreate the devices, people and activities [that make up the counter-
IED effort] in the operational environment as accurately as possible to forces in training.
When the EDGE prototype is complete, warfighters headed for the war zone will be able to enter, as digital
replicas of themselves called avatars, a near-exact virtual Afghan village. There, they will be able to practice
the work they will do on the ground to search out and destroy roadside bombs, and to track down and disrupt the
bomb-making networks whose members fund and supply explosive materials to those they can convince to build
and plant the bombs.
Training isnt the only benefit. In a virtual Afghanistan, if something goes wrong, no one dies.
Thats where were hoping to take EDGE, said Doug Maxwell, science and technology manager for virtual world
and strategic applications at the training and technology center.
EDGE will combine the digital technologies, he added, so we can leverage the best of both to deliver very
quickly to a large audience what we know is going on in the theaters.
In a counterinsurgency or in irregular warfare, the complexity of the operational environment isnt just the kinetic
piece, said Ben Jordan, director of the operational environment lab models and simulations directorate in
TRADOCs Intelligence Support Activity.
There is also the noncombatant battle space, the whole notion of how to communicate with elders and clergy
and community leaders, build rapport, spot bad guys in a crowd and discern attitudes and how they change,
Jordan said. These are the kinds of things you can get at.
Second- and third-order effects a warfighter cant get in a five-day linear exercise that starts on a Tuesday and
ends on a Friday come into play over time, Jordan noted, citing a benefit of the technology.
The combination of technologies that produce EDGE could create a system thats more sophisticated than any
one technology alone.
What were trying to do thats different from everyone else is combine the capabilities of modern gaming
technologies with the accuracy and approved models of the Army through OneSAF, Kaufman said. As you look
at any of the other games today, whats missing is the accuracy of the valid physics or models that make them
good enough to begin to make behavior changes based on [the gaming scenarios].
For example, Kaufman said, when you shoot a bullet, it flies accurately, not just in a straight line. Most games
shortcut the physics, he said, because it takes a lot of computing power to make a virtual world act like the real
world, and games focus more on the entertainment and artwork.
In a training environment where youve got to make sure the outcomes are precise, if you dont understand
where the shortcuts have been taken, you can make false assumptions because of what you see in front of you,
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6/20/14, 4:04 PM Defense.gov News Article: Fighting Bombs in Cyberspace Gives Army an EDGE
Page 2 of 2 http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63924
where the shortcuts have been taken, you can make false assumptions because of what you see in front of you,
not because of what really happens, Kaufman said.
Gaming technology becomes much more persuasive to a user when it is laid on top of a virtual world
environment, STTC lead engineer Tami Griffith said.
Lets say you and I are standing together in a virtual environment and we decide to build a car, she said. I can
in seconds throw together the framework of a car. You could say, Thats nice, but I dont like the lights. So you
could in real time move the lights and change the wheels or their size, things like that. Within 15 minutes after
weve designed the car, we could hop in and drive away. How many other environments allow that? Thats pretty
powerful.
We want to make EDGE as capable and as vividly stimulating as the current game technologies, Kaufman said,
but bring in the realism necessary to support Army training. That, to date, has never been done.
Contact Author
Related Sites:
EDGE
Special Report: Explore DOD's Virtual Worlds
Matt Kaufman, chief of intelligence technology and integration at U.S. Army
Training and Doctrine Command, talks about the Enhanced Dynamic Geosocial
Environment Platform to now Army Chief of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey,
then commanding general of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, at
the Winter Association of the U.S. Army Exposition in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in
February 2011. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Angelica Golindano
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