Warfighter/Hardware in the Loop Simulation at TACOM-TARDEC's Ground Vehicle Simulation Laboratory (GVSL)

The National Automotive Center (NAC) Ground Vehicle Simulation Laboratory (GVSL) is developing and applying engineering simulators and simulations for the evaluation of ground vehicles during all stages of a weapon system’s life cycle research, development, and procurement of new systems; technology insertion and modifications to fielded systems; and trouble-shooting activities arising from test and field related incidents. The GVSL employs integrated laboratory experiments and mathematical modeling and analysis capabilities in the areas of structural integrity and durability, vehicle ride and stability, gun/turret control algorithms/hardware, and human-centered, total system performance studies. Recent upgrades to the GVSL real-time component, the Warfighter/Hardware in the Loop Simulation Laboratory (WHLS Lab), have motivated GVSL engineers and scientist to investigate and develop or apply simulation technologies that facilitate the evaluation of weapon systems in the context of an integrated man-machine system prior to the physical existence of hardware components or fully integrated physical systems. GVSL BACKGROUND The GVSL develops and applies engineering simulations and simulators in support of the United States Army’s military ground vehicle research, development, acquisition and life cycle management missions. The GVSL is capable of measuring, predicting and evaluating typical automotive performance characteristics such as vehicle ride and shock dynamics, handling, stability, durability, and human performance factors. The real-time component of the GVSL, the WHLS Lab, may be configured to incorporate new simulation technologies, models of new vehicle technologies or conceptual designs, and crew compartment hardware. These components are integrated into the GVSL WHLS Lab to create an integrated virtual system that may be evaluated at the component level, system level (including the warfighter), small unit level (using multiple processors to provide a small number of ground vehicles working together), and force level (large numbers of manned vehicles and Computer Generated Forces (CGF) interacting over a network in a single virtual battlespace). History (TACOM’s history described in the next two paragraphs is condensed from reference (1)). The GVSL is located at the Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) in Warren, Michigan. TACOM has its roots in the establishment of the Detroit Arsenal (located in Warren Township) in 1941. The Detroit Arsenal was created to produce tanks for an Allied armored force to combat the growing presence of German armor in Europe. In 1942, the Tank-Automotive Center was established in Detroit to manage Army wheeled and tracked vehicle systems. The Tank-Automotive Center was renamed the Office, Chief of Ordnance-Detroit (OCO-D) before the end of World War II and was dismantled at the end of the war. During the Korean War, the Army created the Ordnance Tank-Automotive Center (OTAC) in order to handle nationwide procurement of all ground vehicles. As the cold war developed and both NATO and Warsaw Pact forces planned for large armored battles, the TankAutomotive Command (TACOM) was officially established in 1967 and was given the responsibility for managing all Army ground vehicles. In 1995, TACOM added the US Army’s Armament and Chemical Acquisition and Logistics Activity (ACALA) in Rock Island, Illinois and the US Army Armament Research Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) in Picatinny, New Jersey. TACOM was then renamed the Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, retaining the TACOM acronym. Finally, in 1998, TACOM added the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama and the Red River Army Depot in Texas to its organization. Today, TACOM is spread over five states and, with it’s Logistic Area Representatives (LAR), eighty-one countries. It’s facilities include over 1.2 million square feet of research and development facilities and laboratories and over eleven thousand civilians and soldiers – twenty-five percent in the state of Michigan.