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Special Warfare Personnel to Benefit from New War Fighter Performance Lab

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100301-01
Release Date: 3/1/2010 10:06:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW/AW) John Scorza, Naval Special Warfare Public Affairs

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Naval Health Research Center's Warfighter Performance Lab recently began testing a $1.1 million Virtual Environment (VE) system used to study and improve the war fighter, including SEALS from Naval Special Warfare.

The research facility's VE is one of 15 in the world and one of only three in the United States.

The VE is a biomechanics and exercise physiology lab on a motion platform that can pitch, yaw and roll by 25 degrees. On the platform is an integrated split-belt (side-by-side) treadmill and instrumented force plates to measure the pressures applied during walking, running or marching. In front of the motion platform is a nine-foot-tall screen that curves 180 degrees around the platform to view programmed simulations. The environment is also equipped with a full-motion capture sensor to record the subject's movements. These movements are picked up from reflective markers similar to the ones used in making video games.

"By placing little reflective markers all over their body, you can record exact movements in real time," said Senior Chief Damage Controlman Eric Duckworth, lab manager. "The markers control the interaction between the subject and the computer program."

The system can also be integrated with other equipment such as reduced-oxygen breathing devices to simulate different altitudes.

"The screen is used so we can create an immersive environment for people to move in," said Lt. Jamie Bartlett, operations officer. "Right now we have eight programs, including a virtual Afghanistan, where we can perform studies as if the warfighter was out in the field. The platform moves in sync with the terrain, so when they see an incline they feel an inclination of the platform while moving on the treadmill belt. It feels realistic."

"We intend to use virtual environments as a research platform to immerse subjects in realistic military environments and see how they perform," said Bartlett.

"For example, load carriage is a big issue now. We can test a subject in full battle rattle, with a 150-pound pack on his back and walk at patrol pace in Afghanistan terrain. While moving in this environment, not only can we examine the effects of load and fatigue on the body, we can also see how they do performing cognitive tasks such as land navigation, working memory, identifying targets, or using a first-person shooter type of simulation."

Experts agree that although all warfighters will benefit from VE research, personnel within the Special Operations Forces may see the greatest impact from the research.

"The VE will be critical for studying groups who continually operate in diverse and extreme environments such as SWCC and SEAL units," said Bartlett. "The changing demands of their duties make them one of the military's most complex weapon systems and now we have the ability to keep up."

Naval Special Warfare is a maritime component of U.S. Special Operations Command and the Navy's Special Operations Force. The community is composed of more than 6,700 personnel, including 2,300 SEALs, 600 special warfare combatant-craft crewmen (SWCC), along with military support personnel, reserve components, and civilian staff. SEALs and SWCC focus on missions involving unconventional warfare, direct action, combating terrorism, special reconnaissance, foreign internal defense, information warfare, security assistance, counter-drug operations, personnel recovery and hydrographic reconnaissance.