BISim tells us how XR is relevant for the Army

Hello Otakar, can you please introduce yourself to my readers?

I’m the Senior Director of Development for BISim. I joined BISim in 2009 after seven years of working in engineering positions in video games companies. Before entering into management, I worked for several years as Senior Engineer in BISim.

Can you be so kind as to also introduce Bohemia Interactive Simulations?

Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim) is a global software company at the forefront of simulation training solutions for defense and civilian organizations. We use the latest game-based technology and a large, experienced in-house team of engineers to develop high-fidelity, cost-effective training, and simulation software products and components for defense applications. 

BISim was founded in 2001 in Australia as part of Czech-based Bohemia Interactive Studio (makers of Arma and Dayz). In 2013, Bohemia Interactive Simulations began operating separately from BI Studio after BISim was acquired by The Riverside Company. Today, we’ve grown to around 300 staff, about two-thirds of whom are software developers. 

BISim’s technology portfolio encompasses desktop training, simulation host, image generation, terrain editing and management, AI, and software development tools. BISim products are used in over 60 countries and by over 300 integrators. Our customers include the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, Australian Defence Force, Swedish Armed Forces, French MoD, and UK MoD.

I’ve read about your product Virtual Battlespace (VBS). Can you tell me its main features?

VBS4 is an easy-to-use, whole-earth virtual and constructive simulation. VBS4 includes a military-specific rendering engine offering millimeter accuracy and global scale, a procedurally enhanced terrain ingestion pipeline, and an entirely new workflow including two new in-game modes – VBS Plan and VBS Geo. VBS Plan and VBS Geo dramatically increase the speed of scenario creation and terrain creation/modification. 

VBS4 is a full replacement for its predecessor VBS3, which continues to be highly successful and is really the de facto standard in game-based military simulation meeting hundreds of training use cases. The key improvements of VBS4 compared to VBS3 are ease of use, a performance due to the new VBS Blue engine and simulation optimizations, and its whole-Earth terrain representation. The new main menu workflow, and VBS Plan and VBS Geo, has been designed for non-engineers. The aim is to unlock the power of VBS4 for every tech-savvy soldier, sailor, and airman. 

Why is Virtual Reality so relevant for military training?

VR enables users to be truly immersed in the simulations for military training. Once a trainee is wearing a VR headset, all they can see is the simulation, and the outside world falls away. 

In the work we have done with VR, we were able to take the theoretical capabilities of VR and insert them into joint military training exercises. 

Do you have any statistical data to prove the effectivity of VR in your field?

BISim delivered a series of three training events for the UK MOD’s VRLT pilot study demonstrating VR and mixed reality (MR) capabilities using BISim products. Three one-week training events, called Sprints, were conducted for the Pilot between January and April 2019 with the aim of each Sprint building upon the previous Sprint’s results and outcomes. The first sprint was delivered within six weeks of the contract award. The scale of VR use was unprecedented in terms of the number of users in VR, up to 36 players on the same network.

BISim introduced a high-fidelity 3D model of the Warrior IFV in the second sprint. Players commented that the 3D model made them feel far more immersed and, observing the players, there was little or no nausea due to the higher fidelity model. 

Following each sprint, researchers conducted structured interviews and used e-voting with the training participants. It is clear that by having appropriate levels of fidelity for the models, it increases immersion and this should deliver a better training experience and credible training transfer. Deeper immersion should lead to communication and coordination skills being under more pressure, resulting in the player being better prepared for live training and operations.

What are the most important characteristics needed in a training experience for the military and how VR helps in providing them?

The more the soldier is immersed during the training the more value the training brings. VR improves the immersion by providing better awareness due to allowing to naturally observe the environment by moving your head thus simulating the real-world actions.

VR, for example, allowed some of our customers to focus on pilot training to start to train flying in formations which was not possible with previously used displaying hardware (i.e., domes).

Using a VR headset also removes the need for a monitor which in combination with the use of powerful laptops allows the soldiers to take their training equipment anywhere they go thus allowing them to train even more often. This was, for example, one of the big points for the UK MoD for the VRLT program.

What are some of the armies that you currently work with? And how many militaries have you trained overall?

BISim’s customers include the U.S. Army, the U.S. Marine Corps, Australian Defence Force, Swedish Armed Forces, French MoD, and UK MoD, to name a few. Globally, more than 500,000 military personnel across over 60 NATO and NATO-friendly countries train every year using VBS software products.

Does the military use commercial-grade VR headsets or do they have their own dedicated, special ones? And if it is the former, what are the most used brands among them?

It differs. Some customers require features that are beyond the capabilities of the commercial-grade headsets (i.e., high field of view, high resolution, lighter weight devices) so they reach out to manufacturers of special headsets but most of the customers do basic training using the commercial headsets (HTC Vive, Oculus and Microsoft Mixed Reality platform headsets are the most used).

Does the military personnel also use some XR accessories (e.g. haptics suits) or does a VR headset suffice?

Our customers are looking for any means of how to provide the trainee as much realistic experience as possible so devices providing physical feedback (i.e., haptic feedback vests) have been used for several years. However, these devices usually come with a price and are used for more specialized training, so it is not a norm for basic military training to use such devices.

And what about AR? Is it used only in the field or also in the training/briefing stages?

Augmented and Mixed Reality are still emerging technologies and BISim is spearheading its integration into military training. We have developed mixed reality part task trainers for T-45 training aircraft for the U.S. Navy as well as Apache helicopters using real-world cockpits with “out of the window” virtual world rendering. These were very well received.

Other than that, we are still working with our customers on analysing where AR and MR can help them improve their training.

What are the differences between working as a military technology provider and a civilian one?

Working on training simulators for the military and civilian sector is very similar, but if we look at the difference between working on a military simulator and a civilian enterprise application or computer game there is one big difference and that is called ‘negative training’.

Negative training is a term describing a situation when a trainee learns something on the simulator that then in real life ends up being wrong. Especially in case of military simulations such cases, this can have very bad consequences resulting in casualties and collateral damage.

That is why we have to be very careful and do not make any ‘shortcuts’ that may be acceptable, for example, in a video game but would not reflect the actions of a soldier in real life.

The use of technology in the military sector is always a delicate topic. When Microsoft signed an agreement with the US Army for the use of the HoloLens 2 in the IVAS project, many employees signed a letter to ask to terminate it, because they foresaw the use of their technology to kill people. What’s your stance on the matter?

BISim is primarily focused on the military market and everybody who joins our company knows that. Our employees see the purpose of their work in making sure that if there is a conflict, then the soldiers involved in it have a high chance to return back alive due to the hours of training using our simulations. 

If you had one big lesson that you had to share with someone that wanted to do your job, what would it be?

Make sure that you understand that there are different types of people who are looking at things from a different perspective than you. Always be open-minded and try to understand how different people approach solving problems in different ways and allow them to do it.

Anything else to add to this interview?

It’s important to note that BISim was the first to integrate the Oculus headset into military training. And we are constantly working with the most advanced providers of VR technology and hardware. We see massive potential in using VR, AR, and MR in military training for delivering a more realistic experience to users.