Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - April 2022 - 16

Predicting mobility in
MILITARY
OPERATIONAL
SCENARIOS
" The goal is to minimize the need
to build physical prototypes and
to fill the gaps in our mobility
modeling and simulation
capabilities especially for
autonomous operations. "
Predicting mobility
Key NG-NRMM requirements.
To demonstrate the differences between legacy NRMM
and the NG-NRMM methodology, a CDT was held in
the fall of 2018 at the Michigan Technological
University, Keweenaw Research Center (MTU/KRC) in
Houghton, MI. The goal was to demonstrate the enhanced
capabilities of NG-NRMM on mobility prediction,
highlight its architecture, technologies and methods,
and their verification with a wheeled vehicle demonstrator
on a real test site. It was conducted with a
particular focus on mobility over soft and marginal
terrains, typical of ground combat operations. The
event consisted of collecting vehicle test data to calibrate
computer-based models, conducting mobility
simulation and analyses, comparing models to live test
results, and presenting results to the participants.
The CDT demonstrated the following NG-NRMM
software approach capabilities:
* A GIS-based Terrain and Mobility Mapping tool that
implements and integrates existing valid mobility
metrics (%NoGo and Speed-Made-Good) in an open
architected environment
The new NG-NRMM process is envisioned as an open-architecture NATO standard.
the development of stochastic mobility output by embedding stochastic
terrain and vehicle data elements. The team investigated numerical
algorithms that improved computational efficiency since the NG-NRMM
methodology can be computationally intensive. The new NG-NRMM
process is envisioned as an open-architecture NATO standard.
Finally, to demonstrate the prototype(s), the RTG developed and
executed separate demonstrations in the areas of simple and complex
terramechanics such that V&V exercises were conducted. As the
RTG neared completion and with a working methodology in hand,
two complementary RTGs were initiated as new activities. First, a
Cooperative Demonstration of Technology (CDT), AVT-CDT-308, was
formed to demonstrate the new NG-NRMM approach capabilities and
showcase the differences between legacy and next-generation mobility
prediction software. Subsequently, a new task group (AVT-327)
was initiated to develop formal M&S standards applicable to the development
of the new NG-NRMM methodology.
16 April 2022
* A Simple Terramechanics methodology that supports
NG-NRMM requirements and provides a means
of correlating terrain characteristics to remotely
sensed GIS data
* Establishment of a long-term vision for a complex
terramechanics approach
* Identification of practical steps required to embed
stochastic characteristics of vehicle and terrain data
to extend and refine the current deterministic mobility
metrics
* Implementation of near-term V&V vehicle-terrain
interaction benchmarks for verification of candidate
NG-NRMM M&S software solutions
* Refinement of the NG-NRMM operational requirements
and identification of the data gaps and operational
readiness needs.
Commercial software vendors as well as other interested
developers were invited to participate in the
event to gauge their software's effectiveness and accuracy
in modeling and simulating vehicles in off-road
and soft soil environments. They compared their stateTRUCK
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FROM TOP: U.S. ARMY; SCOTT BRADLEY, MTU/KRC
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - April 2022

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