News From USJFCOM: New USJFCOM super computer will enhance command efforts

New USJFCOM super computer will enhance command efforts

A new super computer, assigned to U.S. Joint Forces Command, arrived at the Joint Training and Experimentation Center recently. Armed with the power of more than 1,000 individual computers, the new system will help joint operators enhance modeling and simulation experimentation and training efforts in support of the warfighter.

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By Robert Pursell
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(SUFFOLK, Va. – Nov. 16, 2007) -- Imagine if you had the computing power of more than 1,000 PCs, what would you do with it? U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) will use this computing power to better prepare the warfighter so they know what to expect before entering the battlespace.

This computing power comes via a new super computer, assigned to USJFCOM arrived at the Joint Training and Experimentation Center here recently to enhance experimentation and training efforts in modeling and simulation (M&S).

The super computer, known as the Scalable Parallel Processor (SPP) system, is built from 256 nodes or central modules providing the simultaneous processing capability of 1064 personal computers. It is much larger and more powerful than most machines used today which allows it to yield finer details when it comes to modeling at a faster speed.

Jack Winger, technical director for experimentation engineering at the Joint Concept Development and Experimentation Directorate (J9), explained how it will be used to better prepare the warfighter.

"The Scalable Parallel Processor system will be used to simulate future and current battlespace environments, homeland defense and homeland security scenarios, and other experimental situations. It will also be used to support training objectives," he said.

As far as the warfighter going to theater is concerned, the more accurate the M&S of the battlespace, the better the preparation they have for when they actually deploy.

Image of the supercomputer "When you’re in the fog of war, what’s the thinking enemy going to do? The Scalable Parallel Processor allows us to do the ‘what if’ – type comparisons. If this happens, how can this flow actually go to give the commander a decision making tool," said Winger.

Deputy for the Joint Training and Technology Group John Vinett, Joint Training Directorate and Joint Warfighting Center (J7/JWFC) said the credibility of the training scenarios go a long way in training forces for combat.

"If there’s even the slightest hint that it’s not realistic or that it doesn’t work right [the warfighters] immediately think it’s just a game, it loses credibility and isn’t believable anymore," he said.

"What it would allow us to do is provide more fidelity, more definition. When you’re trying to train forces that are getting ready to go in harm’s way, you want to create an environment that they think is real. You don’t want to let any aspect to cause them to say, ‘that’s obviously fake, that doesn’t make any sense. That representation of an improvised explosive device is all wrong.’ So we think the super computer might allow us to provide more fidelity, more detail, and more clarity to the training audience so that they actually become immersed in it and they’re not aware that it’s not real," said Vinett.

Winger explained how the SPP brings this credibility that the warfighter is looking for.

"The new SPP will allow us to increase the number of entities (individual items), behavior, terrain resolution, fidelity, infrastructure features, environmental realism, and analytical potential. All these features combine to increase the credibility of the M&S applications," he said.

When a user simulates a Baghdad rush hour using the SPP, one can see thousands of people actually getting up and going to work, along with their habits and behaviors. If a soldier sees this in the experimentation and training environment, they’ll have an accurate depiction of what to expect once they actually get to Baghdad.

Winger explained how the SPP impacts each entity in these simulations.

"It’ll be nicer on the eyes but also allow us to control the entities within the scenario itself, where you might see a hundred cars running up and down the streets; we’ll be able to do 400 or 500 cars now and put some people in there," he said.

Winger also touched on the SPP’s ability to incorporate new weapons systems.

"As new weapons systems become available to us and we understand how they function and how they interact within the scenario, we can put that into the modeling and simulation environment and let the computer manage that at the same time to do cause and effect," he said.

Prior to the arrival of the SPP at USJFCOM, the command used super computers located at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio and Maui, Hawaii to support experiments, including Noble Resolve and Urban Resolve 2015. Now, USJFCOM can use its own for such experiments.

Winger said a major advantage of having the SPP on-site is the reduction amount of time it takes to get a signal and an increase in bandwidth, which improves motion within the simulations, making it more fluid.

"Latency; we’ve reduced that significantly, and we now have increased bandwidth between the two places. So when you’re looking at something flying [in a scenario], it will fly as you would normally see something fly or a car or a tank moves along as you would see it on [television]," he said. "That provides a richness for the environment for the players that are actually observing what is going on, it also helps the demos too because that’s what they want to see."

The SPP can be accessed through the Defense Research and Engineering Network (DREN), the official DoD network specifically designed for computational research, engineering, and testing, and is used to transfer leading network and security technologies and capabilities across the DoD and other federal agencies

Winger said this connectivity to DoD and non-DoD agencies is possible as long as there is a network connectivity path between the various sites and provided all of the super computers are operating at the same classification level.

Winger said that beginning early next year, the SPP will have its first opportunity to showcase its effectiveness. Its first use will be for the Noble Resolve 2008 – 1 campaign, where officials will look to properly simulate a large urban environment. After that, look for the SPP to play a major role in all USJFCOM M&S events.