DARPA sketches futuristic 'virtual schoolhouse': although the technology does not yet exist, DARPA believes the concept can work.

• Author: Peck, Michael

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is trying to solve a chronic problem for the military services: the shortage of training facilities and the difficulties in making time to train.

Under a program called DARWARS, the agency is seeking personalized, on-demand training that can run on a notebook computer. DARWARS is a "virtual schoolhouse," said Ralph Chatham, manager for DARPA's Training Superiority program.

The project highlights one knotty issue--that computer-based training can be dry and not necessarily effective for unmotivated students.

"If there is this compelling nature to training, the value to the military is that it may make people want to train," said Chatham. To accomplish this, DARWARS will meld an array of technologies, ranging from digital video of human instructors to gaming, based on the success of commercial multiplayer online games.

"People are paying $15 per month to play these online games," Chatham said. "Can DARWARS create that kind of passion for training?"

DARWARS is part of DARPA's Training Superiority project, which received $6 million in funding for fiscal year 2003.

The three-year DARWARS project currently is more vision than reality. Offering an example, Chatham paints an almost fantastic picture of what a "DARWORLD" training might ultimately look like.

A pilot might be on a carrier in the Persian Gulf, and decide to use his laptop computer to hone flight skills. An eyeball tracking device first verifies the pilot's identity, then DARWARS helpfully informs him that he neglected to read his last after-action review. It displays the report, detects that the pilot's eyes were elsewhere when he should have been reading the third paragraph, and asks him why he did not like reading that paragraph. The answer is sent automatically to a training bulletin board for discussion.

Second, DARWARS asks the pilot if he would like to find partners for his training mission. He can only find two more, but DARWARS provides a third, computer-generated pilot to fill out the formation. The DARWARS server determines what refresher training each of the three human pilots needs. It also notes that a soldier at Fort Hood, Texas, is rehearsing a close-air support mission, calling in a B-52 strike. Yet, the B-52 crew, sitting at their own laptops, will be quitting for lunch, so DARWARS informs the Fort Hood soldier that the carrier-based aircraft will be taking the place of the bomber.

Finally, the carrier pilots are briefed by a simulated operations officer and launch their mission (each pilot manning his own laptop computer). One pilot needs refueling training and gets it, while the rest of the flight practices navigation. DARWARS sees that the Fort Hood soldier has not practiced emergency first aid for more than six months, so it adjusts his scenario so that enemy resistance grows. The soldier...