The benefits of embedding training capabilities as part of the physical equipment used during tactical operations are well known and widely accepted in the U.S. military training communities. Embedded Training (ET) provides a realistic and effective training experience that is identical to live operation and, since the training is conducted in the operational environment. The benefits of ET are most obvious when implemented on systems with unique Human System Interfaces (HSI) that consist of hardware buttons, levers, multiple indicator types and different display technologies. The focus of this paper is to describe the benefits and techniques of integrating Embedded Training capabilities into a shipboard control system and to provide practical insights into the integration process. The process will be illustrated using the implementation of ET for a control system of an electric generation plant aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer.

Integrating ET features in an existing (legacy) hardware and software system presents several technical challenges that require innovative techniques to accomplish the design objectives. Creating an effective instructor interface, addressing multiple software languages, handling data conversions, dynamically rerouting hardwired signals, and providing real-time hardware-in-the-loop simulation models that mimic mechanical, and electrical components are a few examples. The ET system consists of an instructor workstation with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that allows the instructor to control the real-time dynamic simulation of the plant equipment. The instructor workstation connects to the physical control system equipment and allows the instructor to perturb the signals coming to the equipment for creation of various training scenarios. The simulation model provides excitation to the control system equipment as if the signals were coming from the real plant giving the operator an exact replication of live operation. Through the description of this ET system, the authors intend to present information that may be applied to other embedded training programs.