Developers in the entertainment and military & civil training simulator industries have had a longstanding relationship in which technological advancements in one sector have led to expanded capabilities in the other. According to Udo Holländer, Team Leader, Training & Simulation, at KMW, "The development of commercial computer games in the last decade has had a vast impact on military simulations. Due to its advanced visual quality, the gaming industry has driven graphical systems in other industries to their current high levels."

Taking their cue from top video game publishers, KMW decided to investigate the advantages of working with Presagis' AI.implant for their simulation and training offerings. In order to meet their own well-established standards of excellence, they set a rigorous evaluation process for themselves, and, after 3 months of extensive comparisons, KMW adopted AI.implant as their Artificial Intelligence middleware solution.

Industry Leader

Based in Munich and Kassel, KMW is a leading provider of armored wheeled and tracked vehicles in Europe. KMW develops, manufactures, and offers technical support for combat vehicles and has customers in over 20 countries worldwide. As part of their extensive product offerings and support services, KMW also designs, develops, and produces vehicle simulations and training devices.

Advanced Gaming Technology

With 240 employees, the Training & Simulation (TS) division of KMW makes training equipment and simulators for a variety of ground vehicles, including cars, trucks, locomotives, as well as armored wheeled and tracked military vehicles. According to Wilhelm Braunschober, a Senior Manager of TS, "Most of our simulators are used for training purposes, but some are used for R&D and some for entertainment."

The opportunity to switch to a middleware AI solution came when KMW decided to upgrade their simulation offerings. Braunschober says that "We had a choice to either redesign our existing battlefield software for the new requirements, including Military Operations in Urbanized Terrain (MOUT) operations, or to build on an established technology."

As Holländer explains, "Training for MOUT areas required a new approach that would enable the complex and intelligent movement of characters in large and increasingly sophisticated environments. Although we did consider 'reinventing the wheel', time and resource constraints led to the decision to buy a COTS gaming AI solution."

Tough Tests for COTS

Holländer and Braunschober were part of the 5 person core team that evaluated AI.implant over the course of 3 months. According to Braunschober, "The evaluation process began with a thorough review of technical documentation and evaluations as well as independent comparisons of AI.implant and other middleware solutions. We also took the opportunity to consult with members of the AI.implant team." Every middleware technology that KMW considered was evaluated along technical, commercial, and legal guidelines.

The team also checked their options against their expectations for the game engine and against customer requirements. According to Holländer, "This led to the formation of some contradictory requirements. For example, even though we required artificial intelligence from the game engine, the simulation process was required to retain full control over its combatants in a scenario. Fortunately, we found the AI.implant SDK flexible enough to meet the demands of our developers as well as current and future customers alike."

Simulations for the 21st Century

Using AI.implant, the simulation developers at KMW save on resources and the simulation end-users are able to train both civilians and soldiers for twenty-first century scenarios. According to Braunschober, "Using AI.implant enabled us to transform our battlefield simulations, which were previously based on cold-war scenarios, into modern scenarios that include MOUT operations."

Braunschober considers the modular extensible architecture to be essential and singles out the ability to integrate AI.implant with host platforms or engines as being indispensable forTS. Holländer also adds that "The fact that the SDK was designed with user overridability and inheritance in mind are of crucial importance for our simulation projects."

The support offered by the AI.implant team at Presagis is also important to the development team. According to Braunschober, "We have been working with AI.implant since 2003 and have developed a good relationship with the developers and support personnel. They respond to our needs in a timely and efficient manner."

Braunschober is looking forward to KMW's future with AI.implant. Says Braunschober, "We hope that Presagis will continue to further develop its powerful Artificial Intelligence technology to meet our end-users' ever mounting simulation needs."