Interactive Multi-Level Virtual Tactical Simulation: The Development of an Autonomy Architecture to Improve Training Experience

Multi-level simulation setups are crucial to train individuals with different learning needs in the same virtual environment. For users at the group command level in virtual tactical simulations for defense/military, tasks simulated at the unit (lower) levels are usually executed autonomously. The contribution of this paper is to detail how these autonomous agent tasks are performed in a chain of actions and commands that include the possibility of high-rank users' interaction with the simulations. The work reports on the experience of designing and implementing an autonomy architecture for an agent-based simulation system called SIS-ASTROS. In this system, autonomous tasks executed by simulated artillery batteries are grounded on the exposition and controlled execution of the API of the SIS-ASTROS simulator. In a user-friendly specification, simulation analysts can provide scripts for doctrine-based agent behaviors, where an autonomy simulator module executes these scripts to improve the overall training experience.