Media Room - In the News - 2007

mōsbē™ showcased at Modeling and Simulation Expo

The following is an excerpt of an article by Lauren Wicks
Originally published November 2th in The Suffolk News Herald

United States Joint Forces Command held a modeling and simulation expo Thursday and Friday at the Joint Warfighting Center in North Suffolk.

The expo was one giant step toward the command's ultimate goal of service and communication with its international partners.

More than 600 guests walked through the expo hall displaying the latest technologies in modeling and simulation.

Greg Knapp, executive director for Joint Force Training, called the two days a "fact-finding conference" that will help "facilitate dialogue" among all branches of the armed services.

Approximately 60 booths were on display for the show, each providing information and insight to different technologies used today by the various services and/or Department of Defense commands.

Officials at USJFCOM are hoping events like these will help leverage modeling and simulation capabilities, and efficiently streamline the technologies to create better, faster and more cost-effective simulations.

"This is (USJFCOM)'s way to get military partners...involved with a healthy dialogue of where we need to go," Knapp said.

New technologies in the modeling and simulation world were on display, each with differences that could help prepare today's warriors. For example, the Modeling and Simulation Builder for Everyone (MOSBE) was set up on Friday. The technology behind the software comes from BreakAway, a system most known for its entertainment gaming. However, this system was developed to allow for the re-creation of real-world environments and conditions for strategic planning exercises.

One of the display screens had the city of Norfolk in perfect detail. Old Dominion University was on the screen, and viewers could walk through the college's quad, park next to the gym or view the school buildings.

The software producers say these elaborate details are important to training, because with them soldiers can run through training exercises on screen and perfect tactics knowing that the real world will be what they see.