British Army selects BISim for VR pilot programme

The British Army has awarded a contract to Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim) to demonstrate the art of using virtual reality, machine learning and cloud computing for the Army’s Collective Training Transformation Programme (CTTP). The pilot programme has been made available through the Defence Innovation Fund, MOD investment into innovation.

BISim will work under the VR In-Land Training (VRLT) PilotProgramme, a British Army CTTP initiative charged with exploring the use of VRfor collective land warfare training and identifying the potential benefits andeffectiveness of VR for military training and simulation. The VRLT Programmewill help make recommendations on the impact, affordability, innovation andexploitation of VR for U.K. defence training.

BISim will help deliver a series of training events for thepilot programme demonstrating VR and MR (mixed reality) capabilities usingBISim products. The training events will use VBS3, BISim’s flagship desktoptraining software; VBS Blue IG, the company’s high-performance whole-earthimage generation software; and VBS STE, a prototype whole-earth desktop trainerthat combines the power of the VBS3 simulation engine with high-fidelity VBSBlue IG visuals.

BISim has subcontracted Cervus Defence and Security Ltd, a U.K.company with expertise in capturing and leveraging defence training data, toillustrate the potential benefits of data capture and machine learning-drivenanalytics for military training. BISim will also demonstrate technology to showhow the cloud can be used and how BISim products and Army training systems canwork from the cloud.

Cervus Defence’s HIVE Insight Engine will be configured toreceive collective training data from VBS3, VBS Blue IG and VBS STE. HIVE is aCOTS Training Measurement and Evaluation (TM&E) service that harvests andcategorizes a large variety of individual and collective training data,processing this information and analyzing it before delivering insights usingmachine learning and visual reporting tools.