DMT-RNet: An Internet-Based Infrastructure for Distributed Multidisciplinary Investigations of C2 Performance

Abstract : The authors describe the first phase of a collaborative research program that leveraged emerging capabilities of the internet to connect a distributed PC-based synthetic task environment system for the purpose of research in distributed team training and decision making. Using an internet-based version of the dynamic distributed decision making (DDD) paradigm, 16 participants from four multidisciplinary research groups (Brooks AFB, University of South Florida, University of Central Florida, and Aptima, Inc.) were connected and performed in a team-on-teams C2 scenario. Observers at the sites viewed scenario play in real time, and communicated with one another via voice and e-mail. Immediately following the end of scenario play, team performance assessments were collected, integrated, and distributed back to all participants for use in an after-action review. This infrastructure will provide the means to investigate issues related to effectiveness in military distributed mission training (DMT) systems, including integration of training goals; use of constructed forces; training content, sequencing, and delivery; scenario fidelity; distributed online performance assessment; and interventions to improve learning and performance in mission planning, execution, and debriefing. The internet-enabled DDD provides a collaborative training space for investigation of these DMT issues while permitting experimental control, unrestricted data analysis, and cooperative research across distributed sites.