The U.S. Army's Construction Equipment Virtual Trainer (CEVT) simulators leverage commercial simulation technologies to provide virtual training on construction equipment. The currently-fielded CEVT simulators, the Hydraulic Excavator and Wheeled Loader, are standalone simulators using disparate technologies for terrain databases, terrain skin modifications, and simulation engines. This precludes interactive and collaborative training between students or across simulation applications. In addition, the terrain representations in these simulators lack the sub-surface soil model with support for soil properties and horizons, the effects of weather conditions, and the effects of physics-based interactions to provide a realistic training experience for the Soldier.

To increase realism in the simulation environment and improve the effectiveness of training, future requirements for construction equipment training are moving toward advanced dynamic terrain, physics-based interactions with the environment, weather effects, and collective and collaborative training. In addition, the emerging Army trend in reuse of major technologies across programs provides opportunities to provide cost-effective solutions for simulation enhancements.

This paper describes a Government funded research and development activity which extended the CEVT simulators into collective training platforms by leveraging a combination of major Army standards and advanced research into open, non-proprietary dynamic terrain, physics-based modeling, and distribution mechanisms. This paper will describe how Army standards such as Synthetic Environment (SE) Core terrain databases, Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS), and OneSAF were leveraged to provide very low cost functional enhancements, commonality, and interoperability. This paper describes research and development of advanced dynamic terrain, including soil properties, physics-based interactions with the environment, and the effects of weather on the terrain. It also describes how advanced, open solutions were developed for complex physics-based terrain skin modifications in visual and SAF contexts. The paper illustrates transition of Government funded research into Army virtual simulation programs.