Virtual Battlespace Scenario Encoding for Reuse, Phase I Report

Abstract

The United States Army and United States Marine Corps employ the Virtual Battlespace 2 (VBS2) commercial game for small unit training. Each service has significant investment in training scenarios constructed using VBS2 tools and conforming to the vendor's particular data formats. To move toward improved interoperability, to gain greater fiscal flexibility in addressing the statutory intent for open competition and affordability, and to protect the investment made in models, terrain, and other elements of training scenarios that are separate and distinct from the virtual and gaming environments in which the simulation executes, open standards need to be applied in place of proprietary commercial off-the-shelf architectures. In the current ( and foreseeable) environment of constrained budgets, it is ever more critical that the services protect and enhance their investments in simulation systems used for training and other purposes. Expanding capabilities for open scenario interchange will improve scenario reuse while creating greater opportunities for simulation data interchange and open competition for future gaming capabilities. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a wide-spread approach to describing data format and content to support efficient data processing and data interchange across systems. This report describes initial application of XML technologies to the representation of VBS2 scenario data, demonstrating feasibility for the capture and exchange of VBS2 scenario data. The report provides a plan of action for a follow-on phase of the effort to expand the representation and for use with other XML-based standards, such as the Military Scenario Definition Language (MSDL), to create opportunities for broader interchange of scenario data across a variety of combat simulations.