Tenosar Corporation, a SDVOSB operating out of the UCF Business Incubator, has signed an agreement with the U.S. Army Contracting Command Orlando, and the Army’s Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI), to lead a project in support of the Synthetic Training Environment (STE). STE is an integrated, collective environment delivering virtual training to soldiers at the point of need.
Working in partnership with SimBlocks LLC, Tenosar is building the Globally Oriented Architecture Topology (GOAT), leveraging commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions that are readily available, and integrating them together in an architecture that solves the One World Terrain initiative.
One World Terrain (OWT) is a project designed to assist the Department of Defense (DoD) in creating the most realistic, accurate and informative representations of the physical and non-physical landscape. The goal is to establish a next-generation government/industry terrain standard for modeling and simulation (M&S) hardware and software for training and operational use.
That goal has not been possible — until now.
Thanks to the newly formed Training & Readiness Accelerator (TReX), Other Transaction Authority (OTA), and Consortium in Orlando, small businesses like Tenosar and SimBlocks can be a part of the solution by pushing innovation to solve big problems, and by doing it swiftly.
“This is a great opportunity for both Tenosar and SimBlocks, and we strongly believe GOAT, as part of the STE, will give our warfighters greater accuracy and more flexible virtual environments in which to train, all in drastically-reduced timeframes. This is the most important goal,” said Teresa Speck, Tenosar’s executive vice president. “Using COTS solutions also means quicker availability and lower cost to the government.”
GOAT is a first-of-its-kind tool that integrates virtual terrains and mapping — no matter what platform they were built in — to work together, allowing interoperability between the platforms, simulators, and/or other parts and pieces that will ultimately make up the trainee’s immersive training environment.
“This new tool allows for organic development by the DoD, and although led by the Army, has joint applications and will provide all users the opportunity to create and improve unique, exciting systems for the Warfighter,” said Speck. “Due to the use of commercially available sources, it could play one of the most important roles in the future of training.”
In addition to the OWT initiative, the STE will also leverage innovative commercial gaming technologies, which will enable defense contractors to utilize well-known tools that are advancing at a much faster rate than traditional defense applications.
“Small businesses are the drivers of innovation in today’s economy,” added Jordan Dauble, owner of SimBlocks. “SimBlocks is very proud to be participating in the development of the Synthetic Training Environment and assist Tenosar in the delivery of critical training systems for the Army.”