Advanced R&D

VT MÄK maintains an active R&D program, focused on:

Enhancing our existing products
Creating new products
Developing new applications for modeling and simulation technology
Maintaining and expanding our underlying technology base

Recent R&D achievements include:

Development and release of StealthXR ― an "exaggerated reality" 3D situation awareness tool that combines the best features of traditional 2D map displays with 3D spatial displays

Creation of a collection of tools for "instrumenting" distributed simulations linked via the DoD High Level Architecture (HLA) ― including the RTIspy now shipped as part of VT MÄK’s HLA RTI (Run Time Infrastructure) product

Current R&D foci include:

Enhancement of the MÄK RTI to support highly-distributed exercises operating over highly-variable Internet connectivity
Enhancement of the MÄK RTI to operate over very-low bandwidth networks, such as at-sea ship-to-ship data links
Support for HLA exercises operating at multiple security levels
Interoperability between DIS (Distributed Interactive Simulation) and HLA based networks, and emerging protocols
including DoD’s emerging Network Centric Enterprise Services (NCES) and Test and Evaluation Networking Architecture (TENA) environments
Incorporating advanced models and behaviors into VT MÄK’s CGF (Computer Generated Forces) and Trainer Products
Supporting ongoing standards efforts focused on defining the next revision of HLA and integration of HLA into DoD’s emerging NCES environment

Support for VT MÄK’s R&D efforts comes from both internal funds and government sponsored research. We are particularly proud of our track record in receiving awards under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, and in our success at commercializing technology funded by SBIR awards. Much of the work described above has been supported by SBIR awards.

Recent awards include:

Multisensory Display Toolkit for Assimilation of Complex C2 Information
(Phase II SBIR with US Air Force Research Laboratories, Rome, NY)

Intelligent Agents and a Simulation Infrastructure for Automated Synthetic Wingmen in Army FWA and RWA
(Phase II SBIR with US Army AMRDEC, subcontract to Soar Technology )

C2I Surrogate Behaviors using Subsumption Architecture and Critic-Based Learning
(Phase II SBIR with US Army RDECOM )

Automated Interoperability Testing System
(Phase II SBIR with US Navy NAVAIR Orlando TSD)

Minimum Bandwidth Distributed Systems for Warfighter Shipboard Training
(Phase I SBIR with US Navy NAVSEA)

Multiple Secure Level Simulation Federation Technology
(Phase 1 SBIR with US Navy NAVSEA)