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VIRTUAL REALITY ENHANCES SUBMARINE TRAINING

COMSUBPAC Release

Release Date: 12/18/2003

By Lt. Barbara Mertz Commander, Submarine Group-9 Public Affairs Office

Silverdale, WA -- .--"This is excellent and unique training," said Lt. Cmdr Ed Fernandez, executive officer (XO) of USS Henry M. Jackson (SSBN-730 Blue) about the new Virtual Environment for Submarine Ship Handling Trainer (VESUB) located at Trident Training Facility (TTF) Bangor, Wash. Ship traffic and varying environmental conditions make the waterway and harbor piloting of surfaced submarines extremely demanding, according to Cmdr. Wade Schmidt, TTF combat systems training department director. "This new trainer will improve the quality and realism of crew training in this aspect of submarine operations."

VESUB is a virtual-reality based computer system that uses Virtual Environment and Head Mounted Display technology. It consists primarily of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf hardware and software comprised of an Instructor Operator Station, a visual system, trainee station, voice recognition and synthesis system, audio system, and screen display. It is designed to provide an Officer of the Deck (OOD) trainee individual instruction in the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully and safely pilot and maneuver a surfaced submarine through restricted waterways while avoiding collisions and groundings.

"The trainer is capable of simulating operations in locations around the Puget Sound and many other ports. The OOD trainee wears the Virtual Head Mounted Display while standing in a mock up of the submarine's bridge, and is able to control the submarine by giving orders to other members of the virtual crew," explained TTF's Tactics Training Division Director, Lt. Cmdr Mark Guillory, Jr. "The head mounted visual display provides a 78-degree horizontal and a 40-degree vertical Field-Of-View and position sensors within the head mounted display allow the student to see a full 360-degree simulated harbor simply by turning his head."

The Instructor Operator Station can run previously constructed scenarios or new developing ones during a training session. The Instructor controls vessel traffic patterns/placements and environmental conditions such as visibility, fog, time of day, weather, currents, sea state, and wind speed and direction, and can focus the training on specific ship handling skills. "While immersed in the scenario, the OOD trainee directs control of his ship's factors; its course, speed, rudder angles, etc. as he navigates through the simulated waterways. The only parts missing are the saltwater spray and wind blowing in his face," said Guillory.

The trainer is also equipped with an adjacent classroom area containing a large movie screen displaying what the OOD trainee is seeing in his head mounted visual display. With the large screen and proximity to the submarine's bridge simulator, an entire wardroom can train on and benefit from each scenario, and together discuss actions and ramifications when the trainee has completed the session.

"This trainer is really great for close aboard maneuvering especially with tugboats along side to practice landings and underway," added Lt. Cmdr Fernandez. "It also helps train OODs to drive by 'seaman's eye', to turn the ship based on navigation aids positioning and timing." Commanding Officers (COs) and XOs can also bring their junior officers to the VESUB trainer to teach their personal philosophies and ship driving expectations during various conditions and situations. The VESUB allows the CO to immediately address any recurring errors made by his OODs during the training session.

"Since the VESUB trainer uses computer based simulations, it can be reconfigured for just about any submarine in the U.S. Navy, not just the Ohio-class submarines homeported in Bangor. For instance, currently there are fast attack submarines in Puget Sound Naval Shipyard undergoing modernization or refueling overhauls and they send their personnel to TTF Bangor to train the newly reporting personnel and to maintain crew proficiency for those previously qualified," explained Schmidt.