Virtual Reality for Ground Vehicle Survivability, Lethality, and Vulnerability
Navy SBIR 2019.2 - Topic N192-050
MCSC - Mr. Jeffrey Kent - [email protected]
Opens: May 31, 2019 - Closes: July 1, 2019 (8:00 PM ET)

N192-050

TITLE: Virtual Reality for Ground Vehicle Survivability, Lethality, and Vulnerability

 

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Ground/Sea Vehicles

 

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle, PdM Advanced Combat Vehicle, Assault Amphibious Vehicle Survivability

 

OBJECTIVE: Develop a virtual reality (VR) visualizer for viewing and interacting with computer-aided design (CAD) and modeling and simulation (M&S) results in a 1:1 scale, 3-dimensional environment in order to reduce the cost of the survivability, lethality, and vulnerability design process and improve understanding of the root cause of vehicle survivability performance issues.

 

DESCRIPTION: Virtual reality is currently being used across many industries, including for engineering design and analysis also for training, logistics, medical therapy, and entertainment. However, these current capabilities do not address critical component of Marine Corps ground vehicle design � vehicle survivability, lethality, and vulnerability. Under this SBIR topic, the small business will develop a VR visualizer for aiding in the survivability, lethality, and vulnerability design, acquisition, and evaluation of military ground vehicles and related systems. The ability to view M&S assets in the VR environment provides the following benefits:

  Ease of communicating design information to those in management and decision-making positions

  Intuitive control and model manipulation

   Full geometric fidelity without resolution limitations (see the smallest component and the entire platform in the same rendering)

   Appreciation and understanding of asset scale

   Ability to evaluate asset layout and configuration, including human factors considerations without a physical vehicle

  True scale and interactivity that provide a useful tool for design evaluation


  More rapid understanding of design issues and simulation results, such as load paths and debris trajectories

 

Work produced in Phase II may become classified. Note: The prospective contractor(s) must be U.S. owned and operated with no foreign influence as defined by DoD 5220.22-M, National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual, unless acceptable mitigating procedures can and have been implemented and approved by the Defense Security Service (DSS). The selected contractor and/or subcontractor must be able to acquire and maintain a secret level facility and Personnel Security Clearances, in order to perform on advanced phases of this project as set forth by DSS and Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) in order to gain access to classified information pertaining to the national defense of the United States and its allies; this will be an inherent requirement. The selected company will be required to safeguard classified material IAW DoD 5220.22-M during the advanced phases of this contract.

 

PHASE I: Develop concepts for a VR visualizer that meet the requirements described below. This includes developing the workflow and translators to efficiently convert CAD and M&S files into a format compatible with the visualizer engine the awardee selects. Demonstrate the feasibility by showing that the conversion tool works with CAD formats Solidworks or ProE/Creo and one survivability, lethality, or vulnerability-related simulation toolset used by Marine Corps Systems Command or PEO Land Systems (LS-Dyna, Velodyne, MUVES, etc).

Further establish feasibility by demonstrating development of the visualizer engine and viewer environment, including the ability to 1) take distance measurements, 2) navigate/manipulate the models, and 3) view quantitative simulation results, such as through colored contours. Provide a Phase II development plan with performance goals and key technical milestones that will address technical risk reduction. The awardee will be assessed on the ability to meet the requirements described above.

 

Phase I efforts will be UNCLASSIFIED, and contractors will not be given secure access. Researchers will be provided data of the same level of complexity as that for secure data in lieu of secure access if needed to support Phase I work.

 

PHASE II: Expand the number of types of compatible data files for the visualizer, to include compatibility with at least LS-Dyna and Velodyne. Moreover, expand the visualizer�s capability to include the ability to view both static results and animations of dynamic simulations and handle both individual parts as well as full-vehicle models.

Ensure that the visualizer includes built-in tools for asset configuration management, such as part number identification, revision numbers, reference drawings/CAD files, and component mass and material information. Include the ability to interactively import and place Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) and developmental design items for fitment and Human Factors Engineering studies. Ensure that the user of the VR visualizer has the ability to embed design review observations and feedback within the viewer. Deliver a prototype VR visualizer software, along with associated stand-alone hardware and software necessary to view static models and dynamic simulations in virtual reality. Demonstrate the capability for multiple people to interact in the VR environment at the same time. Evaluate the prototype to determine its capability in meeting the performance goals defined in the Phase II development plan and the Marine Corps requirements for the VR system. Demonstrate system performance through prototype evaluation, which must be certified to run simulations classified SECRET and below. Refine the prototype using evaluation results into an initial design that will meet Marine Corps requirements. Prepare a Phase III development plan to transition the technology to Marine Corps use.

 

It is probable that the work under this effort will be classified under Phase II (see Description section for details).

 

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Support the Marine Corps in transitioning the technology for Marine Corps use if Phase II is successful and program funding is available. This includes maintaining and expanding the capabilities of the viewer to meet the needs of specific program offices. Develop VR for evaluation to determine its effectiveness in a relevant environment. Support the Marine Corps for test and validation to certify and qualify the system for Marine Corps use.

A VR visualizer can be marketed to engineering, entertainment, medical, construction, and architecture fields. REFERENCES:

1.  Gobbetti, Enrico and Scateni, Riccardo. �Virtual Reality: Past, Present, and Future.� CRS4, Center for Advanced

Studies, Research and Development in Sardinia, Cagliari, Italy, 27 July 2018. http://www.crs4.it/vic/data/papers/vr-


report98.pdf

 

2.   Maleshhov, Stoyan and Chotrov, Dimo. �Post-processing of Engineering Analysis Results for Visualization in VR System.� Semantic Scholar, Virtual Reality Lab, Technical University Sofia, Bulgaria, 27 July 2018. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e1c6/0cf84ad797372cb7dd15bf4267748ec4feaa.pdf

 

3.   Marks, S., Estevez, J.E., and Connor, A.M. �Towards the Holodeck: Fully Immersive Virtual Reality Visualisation of Scientific and Engineering Data.� Proceedings of the 29th International Conference on Image and Vision Computing New Zealand, 2014. DOI: 10.1145/2683405.2683424

 

4.   Vergara, Diego, Rubio, Manuel Pablo, and Lorenzo, Miguel. �On the Design of Virtual Reality Learning Environments in Engineering.� MDPI, Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 27 July 2018. http://www.mdpi.com/2414-4088/1/2/11/pdf

 

KEYWORDS: Ground Vehicle; Virtual Reality; Survivability; Lethality; Vulnerability; Modeling & Simulation

 

 

** TOPIC NOTICE **

NOTICE: The data above is for casual reference only. The official DoD/Navy topic description and BAA information is available at https://www.defensesbirsttr.mil/

These Navy Topics are part of the overall DoD 2019.2 SBIR BAA. The DoD issued its 2019.2 BAA SBIR pre-release on May 2, 2019, which opens to receive proposals on May 31, 2019, and closes July 1, 2019 at 8:00 PM ET.

Between May 2, 2019 and May 30, 2019 you may communicate directly with the Topic Authors (TPOC) to ask technical questions about the topics. During these dates, their contact information is listed above. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting May 31, 2019
when DoD begins accepting proposals for this BAA.


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