DARPA developing test bed for squad-level tech

• By Mark Pomerleau
• Jul 16, 2015

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded a contract to Intific for a virtual test bed that will help evaluate squad-level  technologies developed under DARPA's Squad X Core Technologies program, which seeks to give small squads real-time situational awareness and precision armaments technologies through lightweight systems.

The prototype test bed platform will “adapt the latest innovations in first-person gaming engines and add defense-specific scenario- and technology-generation systems,” Intific said.  The test bed’s combination of game-based, virtual and realistic training applications is expected to accurately model real military systems, making it easier to validate tools and technologies.

The virtual test bed follows a continuing trend in virtual reality training, which has been used for partner building exercises and rehabilitation.