A. Gallagher, A. J. Gonzalez, and R. F. DeMara, 
"Modeling Platform Behaviors Under Degraded States Using Context-Based 
Reasoning," in Proceedings of the 2000 Interservice/Industry Training, 
Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC-2000), Orlando, Florida, U.S.A., 
November 27 - 30, 2000.


Abstract:
Current simulators model platform degradation with very simplistic models that 
do not do justice to the vast variation of degradation conditions that can occur 
during combat. For instance, the mobility of a tank can be affected by several 
factors that can undergo degradation, such as the state of the track, the state 
of the engine, etc. Most of these factors, in turn, can undergo continuous 
levels of degradation. Both the state of the track and the state of the engine 
could be described by quantities that range from the minimum state (catastrophic 
loss) to the maximum state (fully functional.) Modeling the mobility of a 
platform as either mobile or not, as many simulators do, is a huge 
oversimplification of reality that can no longer be justified, given the 
increasing demands for realism placed on training simulators.
Recent efforts conducted by researchers from several fields have tackled several 
aspects of modeling platform degradation. These researchers attempt to produce 
more realistic models through which to categorize the damage sustained by a 
military platform. These new degradation models can then be used to give 
computer-generated forces (CGFs) more realistic behaviors given their degraded 
state. Two major communities that have addressed two large parts of the 
degradation-modeling problem are the Vulnerability/Lethality (V/L) community, 
and Industrial/Organizational (I/O) psychologists. V/L community researchers 
have created several V/L models throughout the years. These models are specific 
for every platform, and attempt to model the degradation on a military platform 
caused by enemy fire. Industrial/Organizational (I/O) psychologists, on the 
other hand, have developed models to approximate the influence of human factors 
in platform behavior. A third area that has not been thoroughly addressed is the 
degradation induced by normal platform use. It is evident, however that such 
factors (e.g. state of fuel or ammunition), influence crew decision-making. In 
this context, these factors can also be viewed as creating a degraded state that 
can influence the behavior. Kill (PKs) to model degradation. These metrics were 
produced by the Vulnerability/Lethality (V/L) community, beginning with World 
War II. Although they are the best-known metrics, many bear no direct 
relationship to observable field occurrences, and they don't address other 
factors not related to combat damage. Recent efforts by the V/L community have 
developed more realistic metrics to assess platform damage. AMSAA researchers, 
in particular, have led the field by developing a V/L Taxonomy that attempts to 
bring greater rigor and clarity to the discipline (Deitz et al., 1997). Other 
researchers, principally Industrial /Organizational (I/O) psychologists, have 
made progress in incorporating stress and fatigue as factors that produce 
degraded platform performance.