Naval Air Warfare Center TSD, Code 27, 12350 Research Parkway, Orlando FL 32826-3275

A -- VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT OOD MODULAR TRAINING INDUSTRY DAY SOL n61339-industry-day DUE 030998 POC Dr. Robert Breaux, (407)380-8138 Robert H. Riddle, (407)380-4095 WEB: NAWCTSD home page, Request for proposal, http://www.ntsc.navy.mil/contract/procure.htm. E-MAIL: Robert_riddle@ntsc.navy.mil, robert_breaux@ntsc.navy.mil. Virtual Environment OOD Modular Training Industry Day. The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division will host an Industry Day on March 31, Room 1041 of DeFlorez Building, 0800-1200 hours, to address the requirements and acquisition plans for the Virtual Environment OOD Modular Training System R&D project. This is a 6.3 R&D testbed to evaluate the effectiveness of Virtual Reality and Intelligent Tutoring for shiphandling at the Surface Warfare Officer School. The essence of the project is the development and validation of a virtual environment, modularized, self-paced, performance driven model for delivering comprehensive, initial, intermediate, advanced, or remedial, mixed media, "seamen's eye," shiphandling instruction and practice which alternately tests and remediates until mastery is complete. Based upon past experience with simulation systems, the intent here is to provide as realistic an environment as is cost and training effective so that time spent later in realistic environments is augmented and optimized rather than "replacing" that time. Speakers are expected to consist of government personnel addressing topics including, but not necessarily limited to, acquisition plan, hardware, software, deployability, reconfigurability, affordibility, metrics, intelligent tutoring, avatars, school requirements, technical management, and cyber sickness. The testbed resulting from this procurement is expected to be capable of, but not necessarily limited to: Advancing the state-of-the-art of ship class-specific hydrodynamics, failure modes, and wave induced ship motion Advancing the state-of-the-art of marine simulation realism, immersion, and depth perception (wave/water models, ship models, special effects, detail/complexity, night training) Emphasizing affordability, reconfigurability, and deployability Demonstrating networking of Afloat Training Group and schoolhouse Reducing frequency and intensiveness of instructor interventions Reducing acquisition & life cycle cost of the follow-on operational trainer Lowering technical risk through evaluation of advanced hardware, visual/hydro model integration, and intelligent agent techniques Providing cognitive model interaction with shiphandling student Metrics for comparison and evaluation purposes are expected to include, but not necessarily limited to,: Cost per student training hour Curriculum development cost per hour of use Curriculum revision cost per hour of use Depth of student grasp of concepts Adequacy and accuracy of cognitive models Time to task (time to first conn, time to refresh skills of senior officers) UNREP exercise performance measures (# of commands, time to connect lines, etc.) Performance in "classic/case study" accident scenarios. Sim Sick frequency and incidence Benchmarking of Prototype technical performance? Comparison of Immersion vs. Desktop vs. Current trainers for the above This synopsis seeks the identification of research approaches for Virtual Environment OOD Modular Training covered by the NAWCTSD Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) 96-1, previously synopsized. Specifically, Part III (Research Interests), Topic 1-I (Virtual Environment Technology) is applicable to this research requirement. Those contemplating participating in this research are encouraged to contact the technical point of contact (TPOC) prior to submitting a concept paper. The recommended four step sequence is: telephone call, informal concept paper, research proposal, and contract award for the selected approach. This sequence avoids contractor and Government time wasted on efforts that have little chance of being supported. The TPOC is Dr. Robert Breaux, (407) 380-8138. Please refer to NAWCTSD BAA 96-1 for specific information on proposal preparation, proposal evaluation, proposal forms, and other research interest areas. BAA 96-1 remains unchanged and companies that have already requested and received a copy need not request another. New request for copies of BAA 96-1 must be in writing and faxed to the attention of Robert H. Riddle at (407) 380-4495. No solicitation shall be released; BAA 96-1 is the solicitation. Seating will be limited to the first 100 respondents. Those contemplating participating in this research must submit your name, firm's name, address, zip code, phone number with area code, FAX, and e-mail to TPOC at "Robert_Breaux@ntsc.navy.mil" NLT 9 March 1998. Those with reservations will be accommodated first-come, first-served on a space available basis, and no guarantee is made to accommodate walk-ins. A map of the area can be found at "http://www.ntsc.navy.mil/info/location.htm" (0033)

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