Huntsville, Alabama-based Aegis Technologies company has launched a games-based combat identification and recognition trainer known as combat vehicle detection & identification (C-ID). The product has been selected as a finalist in this year’s IITSEC Serious Games Showcase & Challenge.

The company is now using its visualisation technologies to address a new area of training, vehicle recognition skills for UAV operators. A move that is likely to be the first of a series of projects where the company leverages proven technologies into new areas of training.

During the product development phase, research was undertaken by consulting with the US Department of Defense and industry subject matter experts as well as analysing military trend reports that show fratricide and combat vehicle recognition are still issues in current operations. Development of C-ID began by determining what vehicles are most commonly used in combat, both friendly and enemy, providing a training environment to educate the user on those vehicles (from the so-called ‘C-ID training garage’ database) and then placing them in a realistic environment that will allow them to test their proficiency in positively identifying the vehicle and engaging the threat if appropriate.

The new training system challenges players to embark on a series of missions in a variety of battlefield environments; correctly identifying combat vehicles and then determining if they are friend or foe. After familiarising themselves with the features of 30 potential vehicle targets in the C-ID training garage, the trainee enters the battlefield environment and must locate and select vehicle targets, evaluate and identify with the option to zoom and then select the vehicle ID from an on-screen set of options. An onscreen after action review provides the player instant feedback on their performance and gives them a proficiency ranking.