Team Situational Awareness Training In Virtual Environments

Members of small dismounted units face growing responsibilities and challenges in both combined arms combat and in contingency operations. Field training for these diverse missions is limited by cost and environmental factors. Virtual environment (VE) technology offers a potential complement to other training methods to meet the rapidly changing requirements for military training. This report provides an assessment based on a review of the relevant research literature of the capability of VE technologies, and strategies for their use for training members of small dismounted units to acquire and maintain situational awareness. It summarizes the state of the art of research in the areas of situational awareness, team training VE technology, and instructional strategies for simulation based training. It identifies current and future challenges for providing situational awareness training to members of small dismounted units and makes recommendations for future research.