Identifying Virtual Technologies for USMC Training

摘要

Virtual Environments (VE) provide safe, low-cost training opportunities for many different tasks. However, the actual training benefits achieved, and thus the true cost-benefit ratio, depends on many variables. One of these variables is the interface system used to control the trainee's movement within VE. Efficient, intuitive interfaces allow the trainee to focus on the skills and knowledge to be acquired, while awkward systems require the user to concentrate on performing basic actions (such as avoiding furniture). Most commercial producers of VEs do not test their systems for training effectiveness. Instead they use devices, such as joysticks, that users accept even when they are inferior control devices. The Warfighter Human-System Integration Laboratory (WHSIL) and the Immersive Simulation Laboratory (ISL) are jointly developing an empirically based mapping between interface technologies and the requirements of desired training objectives. A challenge to the validity of this effort is the pace of technological development. Arguably, system-specific evaluations become obsolete when new technologies are made available. To overcome this limitation, WHSIL and ISL are pursuing experiments designed to identify the underlying principles that determine interface effectiveness. The current focus of this effort is the evaluation of VE systems that were designed to train dismounted infantry Close Quarters Battle (CQB) tactics in urban terrain.