CHARLES RIVER ANALYTICS, INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: MDA15-005

Description

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has invested significant resources to develop advanced training tools that help Warfighters defend against missile attacks. While these tools help missile defense planners learn the skills they need to construct defense designs, they use static, scripted scenarios that do not provide the variety and complexity that Warfighters must encounter to construct resilient defense designs that address complex and unanticipated adversary attacks. The MDA needs a training system that will develop these skills. In Phase I, we designed and demonstrated the feasibility of Remediation for Adaptive Missile Planning through Gamified Resilience Training (RAMPART) by constructing an underlying game framework and several example training scenarios to illustrate useful training modalities. We propose to build on this work by developing and evaluating a full-scope RAMPART prototype that will provide game-based training with broad and dynamic training scenarios generated using mixed-initiative scenario authoring and evaluated with grounded metrics for scenario performance and trainee skill. Scenarios are integrated in a game-based trainer that combines several game modes to challenge trainees and develop advanced planning skills. With RAMPART, the missile defense community can train missile defense planners to flexibly address the unanticipated threats of modern and future adversaries. Approved for Public Release | 16-MDA-8951 (15 December 16)