2 Components of this re-
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search effort include Web-based interoperability standards that
would allow the linking of distributed virtual environments,
architectures for "plug-and-play" interoperability that allow
different simulation systems to interoperate, and network software
architectures for maintaining persistent
universes—simulated worlds that continue to exist and
evolve even after an individual participant leaves the simulation.
Little fundamental research is being conducted in these areas by
either DOD or the entertainment industry; rather, both communities
are concentrating on developing networked simulation systems
without addressing the basic issues of the network software
architecture.
Computer-generated Characters
The term computer-generated characters refers to the
broad range of entities in a simulated environment (people, tanks,
aircraft, etc.) whose behaviors are controlled wholly or in part by
a computer.3 They include the
computerized opponents in computer chess games, digital actors that
appear in films and television, and simulated enemy forces in
military training exercises. Computer-generated characters are a
part of virtually every major DOD simulation and all video games in
which players compete against the computer instead of, or in
addition to, other players. They attempt to reproduce realistic
intelligent human behavior that provides participants with a
compelling simulated experience.
Additional research would benefit computer-generated characters
in both entertainment and defense applications. Gilman Louie, of
Spectrum HoloByte Inc., estimates that games companies allocate up
to two-thirds of their development efforts to programming
autonomous characters that cannot be reused in other games. DOD,
while creating more advanced computer-generated characters, tends
to program behaviors into entities, such as tanks crews, that
operate according to strict rules of engagement derived from
military doctrine. These entities cannot be easily modified or
reprogrammed; nor can they accurately portray the behaviors of
individual soldiers on a battlefield. Both DOD and the
entertainment industry would like to develop computer-generated
characters that have adaptable behaviors and can learn from
experience. Some research is ongoing, under DOD sponsorship, to
apply techniques of artificial intelligence and genetic algorithms
to computer-generated characters so that they can achieve these
capabilities. Other work is needed to develop adequate models of
individual human behaviors and realistic representations of humans
in virtual environments. Significant work is needed to develop the
capability to define computer-generated characters at a high level
of abstraction that will facilitate their reuse.
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Tools for Creating Simulated
Environments
Workshop participants identified low-cost, easy-to-use hardware
and software tools for creating simulated environments as a
critical need for entertainment and defense applications of
modeling and simulation.4 Such
tools are needed to enable the rapid creation and manipulation of
large databases of information describing terrain, buildings, 3D
objects, and dynamic features of virtual environments, and to
facilitate the compositing of such disparate imagery into a unified
simulated world. Although the entertainment industry purchases a
wide variety of graphics hardware and software from established
vendors, it spends little on improving these tools and instead
concentrates on short-term solutions to devise advanced special
effects. Many existing systems are expensive and difficult to
learn. Additional research is needed to create more interactive
tools that allow designers to develop simulated environments using
input devices other than keyboard and mouse. In one system
described at the workshop, an immersive VR system was developed to
allow filmmakers to manipulate computer imagery in real time. Such
techniques may have broader applicability in entertainment and
defense.
Toward Greater Cooperation
Promoting cooperation between DOD and the entertainment industry
in modeling and simulation will require both communities to
overcome cultural barriers that have, to date, isolated them from
one another and limited the flows of information between them.
Differences in business models will need to be overcome if joint
research is to be achieved. At the same time, DOD and the
entertainment industry will need to ensure that they take the
necessary actions, both individually and jointly, to ensure a
continued supply of good people and good ideas for future modeling
and simulation efforts. Educational programs are needed to train
students in the technical and nontechnical skills that are
important to creating effective simulated environments. Fundamental
research programs are needed to generate ideas and explore new
technologies that are broadly relevant to modeling and simulation.
DOD and the entertainment industry will need to solicit additional
input from the academic research community to better understand how
to accomplish these tasks.
Information Sharing and Technology
Transfer
The workshop conducted as part of this study was unique in that
it brought together two communities that traditionally have shared
little information and transferred little technology between them.
Its success
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attests to the vision of DOD in identifying a potential basis
for cooperation and the efforts of the committee to create an
atmosphere in which mutually beneficial exchanges of information
could occur. For the most part, DOD and the entertainment industry
are two different cultures, with different languages and separate
communities of researchers and managers. Few opportunities exist
for promoting information exchanges between the two communities.
The ones that do exist—mostly government efforts to promote
commercialization of technologies developed by federal
laboratories—have been relatively unsuccessful in creating
bridges to the entertainment industry.
Workshop participants suggested that additional mechanisms are
necessary for promoting information exchanges on modeling and
simulation technology that would benefit both DOD and the
entertainment industry—even if they do nothing more than
identify research problems that have already been solved. These
could take the form of formal collaborative arrangements between
entertainment companies and DOD, efforts by individual firms to
supply modeling and simulation technology to both communities, or
joint research endeavors mediated by a university research center.
Experiments are needed to test the viability and effectiveness of
these different arrangements. Less formal mechanisms also could be
effective. Conferences are the primary mechanism for information
exchanges today, but DOD and entertainment industry representatives
tend to attend separate conferences. Some progress could be made by
encouraging cross-attendance at major conferences within each
community or by cross-fertilizing boards of relevant technical and
planning groups and establishing a separate symposium to
specifically explore topics of interest to both communities.
Greater use of the Internet and World Wide Web also might
facilitate greater communication.
Human Resources
At the workshop, representatives of the entertainment industry
and DOD noted an apparent shortage of talented people with the
broad range of skills needed to develop models and simulations.
Both communities increasingly have trouble finding programmers with
experience in content development and the technical problems
associated with multiplayer/multiprocessor games and simulations.
Both DOD and the entertainment industry are seeking people who are
visually literate: people who are skilled in generating economical,
high-quality graphics displays and have a good understanding of
human perception so that they can create worlds that have the
desired effect on those who experience them.
Additional efforts will be needed to enhance educational
programs for visual literacy. At present, only a small number of
U.S. universities
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offer interdisciplinary programs that combine technical and
artistic studies. Expansion of such programs will require the
creation of interdisciplinary degree programs and reward systems
that encourage faculty members to pursue such endeavors. The
research community will need to articulate a research agenda that
incorporates the perspectives of technical and nontechnical
disciplines. Workshop participants believed that DOD and the
entertainment industry could use existing funding mechanisms as a
means for encouraging the creation of such programs without
incurring additional costs.
Preserving the Research Base
Ensuring an adequate supply of new ideas and technologies for
future modeling and simulation efforts requires continued support
for relevant fundamental research. University research is
especially important because it concentrates more heavily on basic
than applied research and has the added benefit of educating
students, who then disseminate new knowledge throughout the
research community and industry when they graduate.
Workshop participants concurred that over the past 20 years the
nature of research funding in such fields as computer graphics and
networking has changed. University researchers have less freedom to
select and pursue research areas they deem interesting. In part
because of growing demands for accountability, government-funded
projects are often more results-oriented than they used to be, and
government agencies are under greater pressure to demand specific
project goals and delivery dates for each task. The implication is
not only a change in the kind of research many investigators
perform, but also a reduction in the quantity of research
conducted. Most university researchers reported that they now spend
less time on research and more time filling out grant applications
and seeking funding. Determining the most suitable method for
government support of university research is beyond the scope of
this study,5 but members of the
university research community present at the workshop expressed
considerable concern about the current trend in government
funding.
To date, industry funding has not compensated for changes in
federal research funding. Although industry contributions to
university research have grown over the past decade, they are still
small. Moreover, as in many other industries, entertainment
companies tend not to conduct long-term basic research, largely
because of short planning horizons and the inability to fully
appropriate the results of fundamental research.6 Entertainment companies tend to
obligate most of their research and development expenditures to
technical problems related to a particular film
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or game release rather than to longer-term issues related to
future needs. Industry-sponsored research is more closely tied to
particular product needs, potentially limiting the scope of inquiry
and raising concerns that valuable new information will not be
widely disseminated.
Other forms of industry support for university research also
appear to be changing. Several workshop participants observed that
computer firms do not donate as much equipment to university
laboratories as in the past. University representatives noted that
they rely heavily on such donations to acquire state-of-the-art
equipment for research projects and education. Their inability to
attract such donations affects not only the quality of research but
also the training of students.
Recent trends in federal and industry funding for university
research in modeling and simulation mirror those of other
scientific and technical fields. National support for research and
development (R&D) is undergoing a period of transformation.
Interest in reducing the federal budget deficit and in realigning
defense needs to match the challenges of the post-Cold War
environment will continue to put pressure on federal funding for
R&D. Increased competition seems to be changing the nature and
structure of industrial R&D. Such issues must be addressed at
the national level to ensure the continued viability of the
technology base for modeling and simulation.
Notes
1. The need for research into lightweight
tracking technology is fully described in another National Research
Council report. See Virtual Reality: Scientific and
Technological Challenges, Nathaniel I. Durlach and Anne S.
Mavor, eds., National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1995.
2. The term network software
architecture encompasses both network architecture and software
architecture to indicate that the problems of network bandwidth and
limited processor cycles must be solved together to achieve
scalability.
3. The terms computer-generated forces,
autonomous forces, semiautonomous forces, and autonomous
agents all refer to computer-generated characters. The first
three terms are widely used throughout the defense community; the
term autonomous agents refers to a broader class of entities
used for seeking relevant information on computer networks as well
as generating computerized opponents for game players.
4. The need for such tools is also
described in Virtual Reality: Scientific and Technological
Challenges, note 1 above.
5. The National Research Council's
Computer Science and Telecommunications Board is conducting two
other studies that may more fully investigate this topic. The first
will look retrospectively at the role of government, industry, and
universities in key innovations in information technology. The
second will look prospectively at institutional arrangements for
ensuring the continued leadership of the U.S. information
technology industry.
6. The difficulty of appropriating profits
from investments in basic research has been a long-standing issue
in economics and management. For greater discussion of this topic,
see Teece, David J., 1988, "Profiting from Technological
Innovation: Implications for Integra-
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tion, Collaboration, Licensing, and Public
Policy," in Readings in the Management of Innovation,
Michael L. Tushman and William L. Moore, eds., Ballinger Publishing
Company, Cambridge, Mass., pp. 621-647; and Levin, Richard et al.,
1987, "Appropriating the Returns from Industrial Research and
Development," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, No. 3,
pp. 783-831.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
virtual environments
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