As the Army develops its next generation Tactical Engagement Simulations (TES) and replaces its existing laser based systems, many new technologies will be employed to meet the requirements. Future TES programs for the U.S. Army will provide a Live, precision, combined arms Force-On-Force (FOF) and Force-On-Target (FOT) training and testing capability using electronic bullets and RF communications for geometric pairing. The Army's Future TES must exploit recent advances in data processing, navigation, networking, interoperability, position location, weapons' orientation and M&S technologies to significantly advance the state-of-the-art of RTCA and automated data collection.

One of many challenges to be encountered by the Army's Future TES programs is that of obtaining highly accurate Position/Location in the use and implementation of Geometric Pairing (Geopairing). An accurate position/location tracking system for Combat Training Centers (CTCs) and other training ranges is a long-standing need of the United States Army. Such a system should be able to locate participants in training exercises, identify all players individually, and track them inside of buildings and on the battlefield with very low latency and to a high degree of accuracy. A system meeting all these requirements has yet to be developed and deployed. Technologies to meet the needs are only now being refined and beginning to appear in commercially available products. The Army is using GPS-based systems in sites around the world, but these do not address the need for tracking indoors and the high precision position location required for use in Geopairing. Geopairing is the capability where the fire event adjudication is resolved through knowledge of the positions and orientations of the shooter, the potential target(s), and the pointing vector of the weapon. In order to properly pair shooters with targets, each party's location must be known with high precision, thus a critical piece for Geopairing.

This paper seeks to define potential issues/problems with Position/Location and the implementation of Geopairing and how they relate to the Army's Future TES programs. This paper will also seek to suggest possible solutions to those challenges and how they could be implemented in helping Future TES programs address the issues of accurate Position/Location and Geopairing.