Annual report 2014, Synthetic actors

This report describes the work that was carried out within the project Synthetic actors (FoT nr 922:01.03) in 2014. The project has since 2009, in a joint effort with the Swedish Land Warfare Centre (MSS), worked on the prototype POPSIM, which is a simulation based tool targeting the modeling and simulation of human populations in urban terrain. The main goal of this year's work has been to embed POPSIM in a serious game focusing on the training of military staffs in urban operations. To achieve this goal we have extended POPSIM with functionality such as the ability to: create and execute plans representing military operations; register and analyze results from exercises; and, the ability for multiple clients to connect and interact with POPSIM in a networking, or multi-player, environment. The main purpose of the exercise is to evaluate POPSIM's potential with respect to military staff training. Furthermore, the purpose of the exercise is to evaluate POPSIM and its models, to identify shortcomings and future work, and finally, to evaluate the learning goals associated with the scenario of the exercise. Besides the development of POPSIM, the project has:  in collaboration with the Swedish anti-aircraft regiment (LV6) and the Swedish air force combat simulation centre (FLSC), worked on doctrinal behavior models representing anti-aircraft systems,  in a joint effort with the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), started a literature review focusing on data-driven behavior modeling,  participated in the development of a report, within the NATO IST-121 RTG-060 group, focusing on guidelines with respect to the use of machine learning techniques within intelligent agents.