4D symbology for sensing and simulation
Gregory A. Turner, Jacques Haus, Gregory P. Newton, William Ribarsky, Nickolas L. Faust, Larry F. Hodges · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1996
The Army's Common Picture of the Battlefield will produce immense amounts of data associated with tactical goals and options, dynamic operations, unit and troop movement, and general battlefield information. These data will come form sensors (in real-time) and from simulations and must be positioned accurately on high-fidelity 3-D terrain. This paper is associated with the Army's 2-D symbols for operations and tactics so that the information content of this symbolic structure is retained. A hierarchy is developed based on military organization to display this symbology. Using this hierarchy, even complex battlefield scenarios can be displayed and explored in real-time with minimal clutter. The user may also move units around by direct manipulation, define paths, create or delete hierarchical elements, and make other interactions. To strengthen the capacity for distributed simulations and for using sensor information from multiple sources, DIS capability has been integrated with the symbology for dynamic updates of position, direction and speed, and hierarchical structure. This paper will also discuss how the techniques used here can be applied to general (non-military) organizational structures.