Challenges
Simulated Operations Command (COS, Commandement des opérations simulées) is an immersive training simulation developed for the French firefighter training company ASPS. The software is used to help train firefighter incident commanders in ASPS firefighting schools.
COS allows a trainee, with or without the supervision of an instructor, to interact with a virtual fire incident in order to learn good practices, and thus drill without having to mobilize several real firefighters, trucks and vehicles. Thanks to MASA Group DirectIA technology, the software simulates firefighters receiving and executing high level orders, along with other actors such as policemen, inhabitants, etc. This makes COS a very good preparation tool for subsequent real-life exercises.
Solution
COS is built upon MASA Group internal 3D simulation framework, allowing the simulation and rehearsal of emergency plans and procedures, with respect to the specifics of each site. It combines a 3D site visualization system with cutting-edge simulation capabilities of hazards, people behaviors and procedures. It also provides decision support and communication tools usable during trainings or real incidents.
COS is a simulation with 3D visualization deployed using two computers, one for the trainee, one for the instructor. The trainee is immersed in a 3D view of the scene and gives orders by radio as he would do during a real incident. The instructor supervises the trainee's operations, translating the orders given by the trainee into missions given to team chiefs in the simulation. These chiefs are artificial agents powered by DirectIA technology. Thus, they are able to transmit orders to their own subordinates and react to the situation (fire, smoke, casualties, etc.) without requiring constant trainer input. This allows the instructor to focus on the trainee's activities, and to dynamically adjust the scenario (changing fire conditions, causing pump breakdowns, wounding personnel, etc.) in order to better test the trainee's commanding skills.
Once the training session is over, the instructor and trainee can review together the entire training session which has been recorded during the exercise, checking the orders given and using 3D scene navigation to point out precisely the difference between what the trainee actually perceived and what happened in places he didn't move to.
Key Benefits
- Autonomous simulation of large firefighter teams and civilian population, thanks to the DirectIA engine
- On-the-fly scenario editing, allowing the instructor to adapt the events to the trainee's behavior, with simulated firefighters and civilians reacting appropriately
- Detailed After Action Review capability
Downloads
COS project presentation video (version II, 20 January 2008)