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As simulation technology advances, can realistic virtual environments develop pilot proficiency to the usual required? Here, an authority in simulation training software makes the case for using virtual tools to develop the subsequent generation of drone pilots.
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The next is a guest post by Pete Morrison, co-founder and chief industrial officer at BISim, a world training and simulation software company for each defense and civil applications. DRONELIFE neither accepts nor makes payment for guest posts.
Drone training is critical for troop success in modern warfare
by Pete Morrison
Modern-day battles rely upon satellite communications, electronic warfare and drones — with each tool improving artillery’s accuracy and enhancing troop protection. Drones play an increasingly greater role, with combat drones enabling long-range surveillance and tactical drones offering immediate close-support capabilities.
Mykhailo Federov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, describes the war between Ukraine and Russia as a “technology war.” Unlike past wars, every aspect of this conflict includes drones — from air defense to jamming systems and gathering intelligence to launching attacks at a distance.
Ukraine’s recent “Army of Drones” initiative includes contracts to buy nearly 1,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The country’s long-term goal? To launch 10,000 drones for patrolling the 900+ mile front line, watching and relaying real-time intelligence to command teams.
They aren’t the one country with plans to include drones into their fighting and surveillance arsenal. Over 100 countries and non-state groups use drones. As drone use grows more sophisticated, robust training and experimentation platforms are essential. Simulation technology offers an inexpensive, risk-free training solution that enables repeatable training that may track and measure training outcomes.
The necessity for drone operations training
As modern warfare evolves, troop training must follow suit. Increasingly, wars are fought from miles away. Educating and constructing troop skills and competencies with distant operations, AI integration and improved situational awareness is paramount. A solid investment in training ends in:
- Increased operational proficiency for flight control, maneuvering, payload deployment and mission planning to maximise drone capabilities.
- Enhanced skills for handling mission-specific tasks, like goal identification, data interpretation and payload utilization.
- Secure drone operation without endangering personnel or civilian populations — and compliance with legal requirements.
- Heightened situational awareness, with operators learning to interpret real-time data from drone feeds, discover potential threats and communicate beneficial information to commanders and ground forces.
- Higher understanding of how drones can synergize with other assets like ground forces, aircraft and naval units. This data facilitates higher coordination and enhances the general effectiveness of combined operations.
- Improved ability to counter threats posed by enemy drones when troops know strategies for detecting, tracking and neutralizing hostile drones to mitigate an enemy’s drone-related attacks.
- Advanced adaptability and innovation by fostering a culture where military operators feel empowered to explore recent applications, develop creative solutions and adapt drone capabilities to evolving operational needs.
Advantages of high-fidelity simulation for drone training
Training to operate drones is intense. For instance, the U.S. Army requires its drone pilots to take the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operator Course — a combination of classroom instruction and hands-on training. One of the best drone training includes high-fidelity simulation, a posh environment for experimentation, concept development, hands-on practice and mission rehearsal.
Virtual simulation software, corresponding to VBS4, simulates fully or partially autonomous and human-operated drone systems. VBS provides a sturdy and realistic virtual environment to show trainees to many scenarios, allowing them to:
- Practice on a particular drone’s system capabilities and uses.
- Develop tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs).
- Conduct mission rehearsals.
Beyond the drone operator, virtual simulation training enables mission commanders and intelligence analysts to develop and practice their skills and game different strategies for employing drones effectively and efficiently. Essentially the most effective simulation training provides a posh, wealthy environment, including terrain, buildings and other elements you’ll be able to adjust in line with training needs.
Drones’ primary sensors are electro-optical sensors, which give real-time imagery processing, targeting feedback and data for autonomous systems. A high-fidelity simulation platform must replicate those self same sensor views (optical, infrared, thermal) and supply the pliability to change amongst them.
High-performing simulation platforms can test autonomous systems, evaluate algorithms and integrate them into higher-level tactical scenarios for leaders to know the interactions between artificial intelligence (AI) and humans. With this data, leaders can evaluate the perfect blueprint, rerun simulations and confirm alternate approaches for inexpensive strategies. As we move right into a future world with fully autonomous drones, it is just a matter of time before drones are making critical shoot/no shoot decisions, and high fidelity simulation will likely be a critical training component for such a AI.
Drone training use cases
The limit on a high-fidelity training simulation platform is restricted only to the imagination of its users’ operational needs and creativity. Listed here are several use cases.
Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) simulation and training provides real-time situational awareness for various scenarios, including search and rescue operations, tracking enemy movements or monitoring borders to discover illegal crossings. One company used a training simulation platform to develop its FLIRSIM™ platform — a conveyable, rapid-deployment, inclusive training tool that replicates real-world scenarios for training purposes. While developing this tool, its architects relied on one other simulation platform to create real-world scenarios operators would encounter. They incorporated roleplay for trainees, updated environments and had the pliability to leverage AI or a human operator to manage each training scenario.
The U.S. Air Force Academy trained cadets using a simulation platform to develop their airmanship skills and expose them to different air power scenarios. Training administrators can start scenarios with basic tasks like drones tracking specific individuals or groups. Administrators can escalate a mission to involve a nighttime special operations mission reliant on a virtual, remotely piloted aircraft — or introduce recent wrinkles, like a weather event, right into a training exercise.
Maximizing their accuracy is critical when ammunition, weapons, and strike drones are briefly supply. Drones provide the eyes and ears on the battlefield. Their increased use has significantly modified military thought, development and training.
Ultimately, a mission’s success depends upon its pilots’ proficiency and the drones’ capability. Training drone pilots using simulators reduces the likelihood of injury to the pilots or damage to the expensive drones. Simulators enable organizations to copy real-world tactical scenarios in complex physical and human environments using the identical sensors and targeting systems drones use to conduct their missions.
This training gives personnel beneficial experience and knowledge, prepares them for multiple scenarios and empowers them to make higher decisions in real-world circumstances. Military organizations that spend money on drone training position themselves because the vanguard of technological advancements and make sure the continuity and maintenance of their overall operational effectiveness and readiness.
Concerning the Writer