Thinking Opposing Force (OPFOR) for Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation (JCATS)

The project discussed in this report focused on two primary research objectives. The first objective was to evaluate the technical feasibility and costs associated with introducing autonomous human behavior models into the Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation JCATS environment. The second objective was to evaluate and recommend improved graphical user interfaces for specifying JCATS entity behaviors, which would aid both scenario generation and execution. This project developed a demonstration scenario for a Thinking OPFOR Opposing Force capability for entities in a JCATS Military Operations in Urban Terrain MOUT scenario, which drove an analysis of the ability to provide thinking type entities and deploying such entities within the JCATS infrastructure. This analysis was used to propose two alternative solution paths to providing realistic human-like behaviors for JCATS entities. For the second objective, a prototype behavior editor was designed and built to specify autonomous entity behaviors within the current JCATS infrastructure. This prototype was used to analyze design recommendations for alternative types of user interfaces for future JCATS tools.