Although it has many uses in engineering and scientific research, Iowa State’s newest virtual reality system, C4, is finding applications in the military.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research is working with Iowa State’s C4 system housed in Black Engineering to design battle scenarios in a project called Battlespace.

Battlespace has recently been put on hold due to the present military situation, but Lt. Colonel Richard Breitbach of the 133rd Air Control Squadron of the Iowa National Guard said,

“We’re in the infancy stages of this thing, and . when we find time again, we’ll re-engage,” Breitbach said.

The virtual reality programs allow trainees to experience battle space situations in an immersive environment.

Soldiers participate in simulation exercises in the C4, the larger auditorium, giving them a change to review battle plans or train for missions. The C4 acts as a predictive battle space.

If a specific scenario’s outcome is unfavorable, the scenario can be replayed to see what an alternate outcome might be, Breitbach said.

Associate Virtual Reality Applications Center Director Adrian Sannier said one scenario is the C4’s flight deck simulation.

A soldier sits inside a model flight deck in the C4, and uses stereoscopic glasses to view his virtual battle surroundings. The soldier can “fly” his or her plane, experiencing the interactions between it and other virtual reality actors, such as simulated soldiers on the ground, or other fighter planes, Sannier said.

Sannier said the new C4 could be used in the future for up to several hundred participants, both live and computer-generated.

“You can’t go around having a training war [on such a large scale],” he said.

Breitbach said the C4 can be reconfigured, either in its cave shape, or in a variety of flat-wall configurations, to best fit the military’s needs.

The C4 allows the trainees to virtually “fight the war, before they fight the war,” Breitbach said.

“We were looking for a way to train military battle management teams in a more effective [way],” Breitbach said.

Breitbach said the military approached the center when they heard about the virtual reality research being conducted. ISU officials expressed an interest, and began collaborating with the Air Force and the Iowa National Guard.

“Its tough for young folks to understand the dynamics of the battle space,” Breitbach said.