Enhancing behavioral fidelity within distributed virtual environments

For a computer generated force (CGF) application to be useful in training environments, it must exhibit complex, realistic behavior within the battlespace. To achieve this level of fidelity, it must operate at multiple skill levels and exhibit competency at assigned missions. CGF applications must also have adaptable decisions mechanisms and behaviors even when operating under uncertainty and the application must learn from past experience. Furthermore, simply correct performance of individual entity behaviors is not sufficient. Issues related to complex inter entity behavioral interactions, such as the need to maintain formation and share information, must also be considered. To achieve these necessary capabilities, an extensible software architecture, an expandable knowledge base, and an adaptable decision making mechanism are required. Our labs have addressed these issues in the context of the Automated Wingman (AW) project. The AW is based on fuzzy logic, the Common Object DataBase (CODE) software architecture, and hierarchical knowledge structure. Decision making is founded on multi layered, fuzzy logic controlled situational analyses combined with adversarial game tree techniques