The One Tactical Engagement Simulation System (OneTESS) is pushing the bounds of simulation performance in the domain of live training simulations. This is particularly evident in OneTESS' terrain simulation capabilities. The OneTESS terrain services solution requires terrain fidelity beyond traditional tactical or simulation capabilities while executing on hardware with the computational power comparable to that of a common cellular phone. This prompted the development of the Live Terrain Format (LTF) capability as a prototype of run time services for the Live domain community. Having successfully established the LTF capability, work continues toward evolving the live terrain services to align with virtual and constructive terrain services. The result will allow building a run time terrain services capability that is truly cross domain. This paper presents how LTF prototypes this evolution with an emphasis on how LTF can evolve in general to meet virtual and constructive requirements, the reasons for doing so, the considerations exploring such a capability, and the long term mechanisms to move forward.

This paper begins with a review of the driving requirements, objectives, and design artifacts of the live domain terrain that drove the development of the OneTESS terrain solution. It then presents findings from the evaluation and application of the live domain terrain services in LTF to the constructive and virtual domains. These findings include interoperability and fair fight considerations along with mitigation strategies for existing technologies such as One Semi-Automated Forces (OneSAF) and the Common Training Instrumentation Architecture (CTIA). Additionally, the paper documents an analysis of data acquisition strategies and possible mechanisms for meeting cross domain data needs. Finally, this paper introduces the Common Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) Terrain Evolution work under the Defense Modeling and Simulation Coordination Office. This introduction will cover the genesis, objectives, tasks, and products of the work. The paper concludes by describing how the effort is enabling terrain services that cross the live, virtual, constructive, and operational domains.