Functional Capabilities of Four Virtual Individual Combatant (VIC) simulator Technologies : An Independent Assessment

This research describes the results of an independent assesment of the functional capabilities of four virtual individual combatant (VIC) simulators. Infantry soldiers were given the opportunity to operate each VIC in a series of squad-based scenarios requiring the performance of both individual and collective tasks in a desert or urban setting. The results indicated that the more realistic the action or equipment used and the more reliable the VIC, the more the soldiers liked that system. An important consideration in the development of future generation VICS is the specific purpose (s) to be served by these systems, e.g., mission planning and rehearsal versus training individual soldier skills. The data collected from this research provide an important first step in the development of a set of dismounted infantry requirements for manned simulators that will support the integration of the individual soldier into the virtual battlefield.Army Research Inst for the Behavioral and Social Sciences Fort Benning Ga is the author of 'Functional Capabilities of Four Virtual Individual Combatant (VIC) simulator Technologies : An Independent Assessment', published 1998 under ISBN 9781423562429 and ISBN 1423562429.