A significant trend in the use of synthetic environments for military unit training is to move away from using generic scenarios that cover a multitude of training objectives. Instead, dedicated scenarios are designed that cover a smaller set of specific training objectives. A few tools exist that support the development of scenarios tailored to these objectives and the collection of data for an after-action review based on the objectives. For real-time monitoring of the exercise however, most environments use a standard set of tools, e.g. plan view display, 3D stealth and ORBAT (ORder of BATtle) Browser. These tools only provide a generic view on the exercise. Specific information necessary for evaluation of the training objectives is often not present or only available after time-consuming manual adjustment of the tools.

This paper reports on the definition of a training support toolset that uses training objectives as a framework. The toolset enables the instructional staff to focus on training objectives during all stages of the lifecycle of an exercise: definition, preparation, execution and review. The current emphasis is on the execution and the review stages. The paradigm for the approach described in this paper is to regard the training support toolset as a set of complementary views on the synthetic environment. Each view is optimised to display certain types of entity information, e.g. position in the battlefield, force hierarchy or vehicle status. To support the evaluation of a particular training objective or group of objectives during an exercise, the toolset is configured for the instructional staff as a dedicated set of views, enabling them to retrieve the necessary information. Two other guidelines used for the construction of the toolset are the presentation of additional information as overlays over the views, and the use of system-wide controls that influence all relevant views in the toolset. The paper gives examples that show how the toolset allows the members of the instructional staff to retrieve information on entities in an effective and efficient way. The instructional staff uses the information obtained to build a common mental picture of the performance of the trainees by evaluating the training objectives during the execution stage. They can provide on-line feedback, or store the information for use in an objectives-based after-action review.

The approach is applied in co-operation with the Royal Netherlands Army to prototype training support tools for tactical training environments. One of their main interests in this approach is to conduct high-quality training exercises with a relatively small instructional staff.