ASU Research E-Magazine: Teaching the World's Teachers

Your sleek F-16 fighter plane rolls off the IP, on course toward target. The machine is 12 tons of metal, wire, high tech composite material, and jet fuel hurtling along at 600 miles per hour.

Adrenaline pumps but you hold the sensitive sidestick with a feather-light touch. Your eyes swivel with your neck braced against g-forces: you scan terrain and sky through the flight information glowing on the HUD.

The bearing cursor pins the target ahead. Check range. Pitch up in a straining 4-g climb. Roll with the target coming into view over your shoulder. Roll out, steer the LOF across the target, and... weapons release. Your target boils up into smoke and debris.

The action must be taking place high above the parched terrain of some Middle Eastern desert. Or perhaps near the treetops of some Asian jungle? Maybe above a placid blue ocean?

Wrong. Wrong. And wrong. Every bit of action occurs right inside an office at Arizona State University’s East Campus.

Inside that office, four talented young men have designed a leading edge multimedia educational program for Air Force pilots. Dubbed “War in a Box” by its creators, the system includes a computerized briefing, minute-by-minute fly through, and a step-by-step mission debriefing capability. In addition to high performance fighter aircraft, the flight training program also works for jumbo C-130 transport planes, A-10 ground attack fighters, and many other aircraft.

“Our job involves building a computerized shell or backbone system that the Air Force can use to train for multiple missions,” says Karim Gayraud. “Because we obviously don’t have the security clearance or desire to input the details of real missions, we have designed our program so that Air Force personnel can do that for themselves.”

Gayraud is a member of the ASU Digital Media Technology Group. He says that most Air Force missions start with digital data that is downloaded from satellites and other information sources. Squadron commanders then hand out mission specifics to each pilot in printed form. Demonstrating how all those assignments fit together is then done using decidedly low-tech methods: handheld models or chalkboards.

With the War in a Box format, the Air Force can download data directly to computer disks. The disks allow commanders to present the situation visually, using up to three films and a narrative simultaneously.

They also can demonstrate items such as forces, faces, and integrated flying formations using 3-D images. As a result, pilots can see their exact target and air defenses surrounding it, the terrain, and both the waypoints and formations they and other members of their squadron must navigate.

Each pilot can then use his disk to “fly,” step-by-step, through his exact portion of the mission. Terrain details are both vivid and exact throughout the flight, thanks to data that is downloaded from Geographical Information System sources.

Three-dimensional views of planes, terrain, and ground items—including shadows—even change perspective as the plane flies. The system was also designed to allow on-the-spot replays.

“Instructors used to have to climb into the simulator with the student to review the flight. And as soon as the next guy came in, that flight record was erased,” explains team member Shane Edmonds. “Our system lets the pilot bring a complete record of the flight, right down to where his eyes were looking at each instant, back to an electronic debriefing.”

By projecting multiple flight recorder disks simultaneously, the squadron commander and pilots can watch the entire mission as it unfolds.

Far from a CD-based aviator game, the War in a Box program relies upon complex Internet and network-type multimedia technologies—complete with sophisticated security encryption capabilities. War in a Box was even featured during the Air Force’s gala 50th Anniversary celebration festivities.

The ASU researchers must now work to make the program more “real time,” Gayraud says. That is because the Air Force eventually wants to beam up-to-the-minute weather change data directly to cockpits.

Air Force commanders also want War in a Box training accessible via laptop computers so that pilots can practice out of class—no matter where in the world they might be at any given time.

“War in a Box is a glitzy attention getter. But it’s actually just the first step toward the Air Force’s Squadron 21 project,” says Gary Grossman, associate professor of information and management technology and director of the International Projects Unit at ASU East. Squadron 21 refers to the Air Force’s goal of putting military operations on-line as much as possible.

“Operating an Air Force base is extremely intricate and involved. It’s much like running a small city,” Grossman says. “Our goal is to develop a computerized backbone system that allows on-line accessibility for everything from training to housing to maintenance and scheduling by anyone from anywhere. Access would be bounded only by each person’s security clearance.”

For example, the base commander could easily access whatever he needed, the housing officer what he needed, etc.—all on computer screens. All of which would make training military personnel and tracking things much, much easier, Grossman maintains.

The media group that created War in a Box is actually just one small part of Grossman’s International Projects Unit. That unit’s main focus is global educational concerns.

“The International Projects Unit was conceived as a means by which ASU could deliver its tremendous talents and resources to the world,” Grossman explains. Many developing nations believe that educating people is the key to sustaining long-term economic growth.

“Say what you will about the U.S. education system, but with regard to teacher education, it’s considered better than any system in the world at providing a means by which the masses of society can be reasonably well educated,” Grossman adds.

Many countries are eager to learn our teacher education methodologies and models, not just content materials. All of which, Grossman says, gives ASU a chance to have a tremendous impact globally.

The ASU International Projects Unit is already partnering with governments and businesses in Turkey, Thailand, India, Moldovia, and Malaysia on major educational projects.

In so doing, its members are often called upon to identify related needs and locate potential business allies. As a result, businesses that are interested in global expansion can often gain valuable introductions and insight through the ASU group. —Lindsey Michaels