Computer Simulation System example essay topic

Since World War II ( WWII), the funding of scientific research by the Department of Defense (DoD) in America has remained the first priority of federal research funds. During WWII, the DoD created agencies and linkages that provided billions of dollars to universities and corporations to research and design the weapons that would win the war and wage future wars. Among these weapons were most notably the atomic bomb, the proximity fuse, missile technology and radar. Breakthroughs in electronics during the war led to the modification of anti-aircraft guns. Analogue computers were used to calculate the firing times and trajectories necessary to hit high-speed targets like fighter-bomber aircraft and the German V-1 rocket. Computers were used to calculate artillery tables that solved complicated engineering problems, decoded enemy communications, and opened up the future of technological war.

[1] In military spending nowadays there has been a great need for a cost-effective mean of maintaining troop readiness [2]. Soldiers are required to spend significant time training in extremely complicated and expensive military vehicles. Live training inside battle tanks, aircraft and ships can be prohibitively expensive and not to mention dangerous. Computer simulation can provide much of the same benefits as live training without the associated cost. The primary goal of military simulation is to provide high fidelity representation of a real battlefield. With the advantages of distributed simulation, thousands of military vehicles can be represented in the same simulation.

Current technology has allowed live and virtual forces to be seamlessly integrated into a single battlefield. For example, a live platoon leader and his crew can drive an actual tank on a training range at Fort Knox while leading a group of virtual tanks being run on a simulator elsewhere. The live and virtual tank operators are able to see and shoot each other. It appears to the live tank operator as if he is actually firing at a real physical tank [3]. It is also now possible to represent a human in the battle simulation.

Actions as detailed as hand gestures and facial expressions can be represented in the simulation. Military simulations typically provide the ability to start, stop, pause and resume a simulation so that the performance can be critiqued. A data logger records every event in sequence throughout the simulation so that the entire portions may be replayed at a later time. The supervisors of these simulations are able to modify environment variables within the simulation in real time. It is apparent that now war can, not only be waged in reality but with the help of computers can even be waged virtually. The advent of 3 D computer graphic technologies has also proven advantageous for the military's war preparation.

Advanced training technologies allow soldiers to rehearse missions. During the previous Gulf War, pilots of fighter aircraft prepared for missions by studying detailed photos and maps. Since then, the Pentagon has invested millions of dollars in new technologies to allow pilots to pre-fly mission in virtual environments. One of the system that does this is called Top scene developed by the U.S. Navy using technology from Mountain View, California-based Silicon Graphics Inc.

The computer simulation system is used by the pilot to familiarize themselves with the battlefield landscape. The system recreates the first person view as seen from the cockpit. Another simulator, RealSite developed by the Harris Corporation is used by ground troops. The Harris Corporation anticipated the conflict against Iraq so they created a RealSite model of Baghdad, complete with scale renderings of Saddam Hussein's urban palaces and the headquarters' of Iraqi's republican guards.

[4] The data needed to do this type of simulation is gathered from satellite images and military intelligence. The level of detail in the 3-D models is limited only by the precision of the satellite images and the processing power of the computers running the simulations. The programs are typically run on super computers, which are normally 10 times more powerful than a top-of-the-line PC. It has also been reported that computer war games are being used to ready U.S. military commanders before the current war on Iraq. A high-tech simulated war in Iraq was fought at Grafenwoehr in Germany. More than 3000 personnel participated in the computer-driven simulation.

[5] The war game designers were able to create highly realistic models of terrain in Iraq allowing the commanders and troops to engage the enemy in real time. The sophisticated program is filled with variables like weather conditions and air support that can be controlled to make the simulation mimic real combat situation. The program tracked every order that was given by the commander and tracked down its implications. This included casualties that could result from those decisions. Again the exercise that is dubbed "Victory Scrimmage" was halted at key points for self-criticism. The commanders and battle staff members of every army division that were deployed to the Persian Gulf before the war were tested in Victory Scrimmage.

This simulation is part of the U.S. Army's Battle Command Training Program, headquartered at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Battle Command Training Program (BCTP) began developing the first computer based battle simulation system in 1983 and the system was fielded in 1987. BCTP exercises are regularly used to test National Guard divisions, regular army corps and division commanders and staff. The virtual battlefield extends more than just simulation programs.

Computers and the internet specifically were used extensively during the recent war in Afghanistan. The U.S. military used high-tech war rooms that became the nerve centre of the campaign. A secure web site called the Tactical Web Page was used in combat for the first time. Through this web page, American commanders at Bagram air base in Afghanistan and in the United States directed the fight in Afghanistan. [6] The system collected information and communication into one place. Through this system military commanders conferred in chat rooms and could pass on orders.

Generals at Central Command in Tampa, Florida, which runs the U.S. military in the Middle East and Central Asia can also log on to the system. This allowed the commanders to draw out military plans without everyone having to be in one place. The website also provide maps to pinpoint U. S troops as well as enemy positions by integrating Global Positioning System and the web technology. The notion of videogame war seems in my opinion to imply a safe war. In this essay I have mentioned how computers are used to orchestrate war. These computer systems were designed to make better sense of war or in a way rationalize war.

However, in my opinion there is no such thing as a safe war, however well it is dictated or rehearsed. War is still war, a field where people engage in the activity of taking another person's life. War is not a game. It is real lives ripped in half; it is lost sons, daughters, mothers and fathers, each with a dignified story. War will still produce casualties however well it is simulated. The use of computers as I have mentioned in this essay in a sense try to limit the number of casualties.

As advance as the computer technology to simulate battlefield, a simulation is still an abstraction of reality. Unexpected circumstances can still happen in the real battlefield that was not simulated in the virtual battlefield. This in a sense can affect a soldier's performance if he becomes too comfortable with the virtual battlefield and does not anticipate unexpected changes. Things that could not be simulated with war are how long it will last and the risk that is involved. When a soldier for example is hit by a bullet in the virtual battlefield, could the computer simulate the pain if that were to happen in real life? Hazards and risks remain significant factors of war that cannot be simulated.

On another note, or on another end of the spectrum, I think that war will still happen however hard we try to avoid it. There will be forces in the world that will try to wage war for whatever reasons because war is an industry. War creates jobs, jobs such as building weapons and rebuilding cities that were destroyed in the war. War in a sense can stimulate the economy of a country but at the same time destroy the economy of another. Computers and its applications like simulation is a tool like any other tool that can be used either for good or bad.

Computers are used by the military for a wide variety of other purposes. Things like communications, encryption, air traffic control, data analysis, record-keeping, transaction processing, the analysis of stocks and inventories, accounting purposes, and all the other reasons that computers might be used in a general setting. The rapid development of the computer industry is attributed by military needs during World War II. The computer might not be such an innocent tool after all considering its history.

However, it is up to those who are using it to determine whether to use it for good or bad. It all comes down to the human factor. When man first discovered how to use rocks to make tools for hunting food, the rock is considered beneficial, but the same rock could also be used for killing another human being. The same goes for computers when it is compared to a rock. History in a way is repeating itself.

In the American Civil War, it was the rifle. In the 1944 allied invasion of Europe, the tank. In the Cold War, it was the nuclear missile. When military historian look back on the 20th century they " ll probably agree that the weapon that made the most difference was the computer. Computers drive nearly all the military's weaponry and gear and in my opinion the relationship between computer and warfare will still continue as the quest for evermore destructive weapon continues.