2016 NM&SC Meeting Summary
Thursday March 10, 2016
Chesapeake, VA
The 2016 annual meeting of the NM&SC was held 10 March, in Chesapeake, VA
INTRODUCTION
In the welcome remarks, RADM Jim Robb, USN (Ret) briefly discussed the origins of the organization and need for a coalition of M&S organizations. As President of the National Training and Simulation Association (NTSA), he continues to support NM&SC from NTSA’s position as the original and founding member of the coalition. During the call to order, Dr. Richard Fujimoto, GA Tech, and Chair, NM&SC Policy Committee, commented on the value of the NM&SC and introduced the objectives of the meeting. He also mentioned the work on an NM&SC directory, to be available to our community and the work NTSA has done to provide a “roadmap” listing M&S organizations. Richard introduced Dr. Chuck Turnitsa, GTRI, Program Chair and Education and Professional Development Subcommittee Chair, and Rick Darter, Pres. & CEO, Rave Computer, and NM&SC Policy Committee Member, who provided the context and introduction for the Keynote Speaker.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Ms. Elizabeth Baron, Virtual Reality and Advanced Visualization Technical Specialist, Ford Motor Company, provided the keynote address, titled: “Remarkable Virtuality: Awesome Realism and Amazingly Efficient Product Design.” Ms. Baron introduced us to the Ford Immersive Vehicle Environment (FIVE) that provides a truly impressive immersive environment for engineers and designers to collaborate across Ford Motor Company design and engineering centers around the globe. The Immersive Cinematic Engineering tool also provides an evaluator of vehicle quality at each stage of design, for example; light, shadows, and reflectivity. The designers iteratively interact with production engineers, marketing staff, and other management and design offices, to provide multi-layer models of the vehicle in each stage. The FIVE environment provides a design space to insure the proportional harmony and appeal to the future buyer, as well as the engineering quality and sustainability of the ultimate product. For global design center collaboration, Ford uses data encryption to link Ford sites across the U.S., Europe, Australia, and China. An interesting question from the audience addressed the nature of the detailed design and engineering data needed to feed the models. In each case, responsibility for accuracy and currency of design data remains with the Ford unit user/owning department.
Summary notes from the presentation:
An important aspect of Ford’s design work is paying attention to the “mind’s eye” and human perception:
Must pay attention to this in designing Ford’s virtual visualization environment.
Also,
To illusion as it affects human perception in viewing the vehicle (inside and out).
Adhering to these principles has dictated detailed analysis of physics of light, reflection, glare, etc., that make up the materials, paints, etc., used in vehicle design.
Ford’s objective in using FIVE: accurately reflect the visual environment experienced by the customer (perception, illusion, reflectance, colors, etc.)
The tool “set” encompasses live, virtual, and constructive models, and the same for various simulations used to immerse design staff, engineering staff, and customers in the vehicle design, inside and out, cabin and engine compartment, with haptics used where needed to either immerse the customer or to facilitate design work on human factors and ergonomics design elements of the vehicle.
MEDICAL MODELING & SIMULATION PANEL
Dr. Pamela Boyers, University of Nebraska Medical Center, provided context, and served as panel moderator for the plenary panel, “Medical Modeling and Simulation.” Dr. Boyers is Associate Vice Chancellor for iEXCEL (Inter-professional Experiential Center for Enduring Learning) which is described as a “cutting-edge training facility in which learners are immersed in simulated and virtual, life-like scenarios.” The panel was representative of several sectors of the medical industry, and included for-profit manufacturers of models and simulators and panelists representing university-related medical training and M&S applications.
- Paul Pribaz, Executive Director, Jump Innovation Simulation Center, University of Illinois, Peoria. The progress in research and development in medical modeling, simulation, and simulators is primarily funded through donations from grateful patients at their Univ. of Illinois health facilities. The JUMP Center received a single $25M donation to build a state of the art simulation center and sponsor critical medical research that has proven to be beneficial to the medical profession as a whole, as well as to particular patients at their facilities.
- Dr. Robert Amyot, President, CAE Healthcare. CAE is well known for building full motion flight simulators for pilots that are in wide use for training both commercial and military pilots. These complex simulators provide extremely realist training, and can be used in lieu of flying time for both initial training; for airlines, simulators are used almost exclusively for pilot transition to other “types” of aircraft. With this company background and experience, CAE wants to take their simulator successes in the aviation training area and apply that knowledge to medical training and simulation. Dr. Amyot also provided some examples of their medical models and simulators.
- Shae Peters, Lt Col, USAF (Ret). She discussed her role in USAF and Defense healthcare programs, and the progress being made in San Antonio, TX, a “mecca” for M&S for military medical applications and training. The area has long been the center for the USAF Air Education and Training Command, and also for major Service hospital centers. The area is collaborating on M&S for medical applications is also working with graduate-level education for military officers at the Naval Postgraduate School.
- Mats Johansson, President & CEO, EON Reality. He provided an excellent discussion of virtual reality and training applications in the medical profession, providing insights on technology application of direct interest to the NMSC community. He demonstrated the capability of EyeSimTM, an interactive 3D human eye simulation that can be used to drill down to very fine levels of detail and views inside the eye. From observing the wide use of EyeSimTM for training, EON has found that both medical students and practicing doctors find they have better retention of detailed medical knowledge both from an anatomical and applications/procedural perspective.
Summary notes from the presentations:
There is a scarcity of clinical facilities in which residents and fellowship awardees can practice/develop their medical skills and gain experience. The Panel’s message was, there should be ways to make use of M&S-based tools, devices, and simulators to expand the scope and quality of experience available to these MDs. A comment was made that M&S should be able to benefit most, if not all, the 24 medical specialties.
One example provided: Some recent research demonstrated a cost savings of about $3,000 per central line placement/insertion when residents were first trained to a master’s level in the protocol/procedure.
At the Jump Training Simulation and Education Center, Peoria, IL, much effort has been put into connecting clinicians and engineers (in particular, those working in applied engineering) with good results shown in collaboration and demonstrable ROI from projects jointly run by these two groups of professionals.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has in place a medical 3D print exchange program; online access to designs of tools, medical devices, etc., suitable for additive printing techniques. The Jump Center maintains the site for NIH.
There are more and more facilities dedicated to, or encompassing M&S components. An example cited by Mr. Johanssen: EON Reality* EyeSimTM, a “realistic VR Ophthalmology Simulation”, and similar products are in use for training some 20,000 medical students in schools worldwide. (note: in US, there are about 150 medical schools).
* (http://www.eonreality.com/applications/eyesim/
NM&SC Business Meeting
Dr. Fujimoto called to order the NM&SC Business Meeting, introduced the Policy Committee (PC) members, and welcomed the three new members elected in February 2016. The new PC Members are Mr. Jesse Citizen and Dr. Randall Garrett. BG Stephen Seay, USA (Ret) was reelected to another term. Richard thanked the two outgoing members of the PC, Dr. Marjorie Zielke, and Mr. Marco Estrada, for their service. Richard provided a summary of NM&SC 2015-16 activities and introduced the Standing Subcommittee chairs for their reports. He also provided a summary of the January 2016 technical workshop, held in Arlington, VA to discuss development of consensus towards embracing a common research agenda for M&S. The meeting was a success, with key questions emerging on “How to build better M&S?”, “How we can become better at building M&S?” , and, “How can M&S best exploit emerging new technologies?” The meeting report is being written by key members of the meeting. It will be published in the summer/fall of 2016 and serve as a basis for an I/ITSEC panel in December 2016.
- Ms. Lisa Bair, SAIC, Chair of Communications, Outreach & Public Affairs (COPA) subcommittee, provided a summary of committee activities, which included publishing of an NM&SC strategic plan, creation of a structured messaging platform, and a plan for information collection and dissemination via the NM&SC web site, www.thenmsc.org.
- Dr. Charles Turnitsa, GTRI, Chair of Education and Professional Development (EPD) subcommittee, and Program Chair for the 2016 Annual Meeting, discussed the focus on the annual meeting since joining as the EPD chair last September. The focus of the subcommittee has been education and training for the M&S workforce and STEM at all levels of education.
- Dr. Randall Garrett, SimIS, Chair of Research & Development / Technology, provided a summary of the National M&S research agenda and committee activities, highlighting the January 2016 meetings addressed above.
- Dr. Eric Weisel, ODU, Chair of Industrial Development and Business Practice (ID/BP), reported on the year’s activities and provided a summary of progress on the phased action plan he has developed to submit the next proposal to establish NAICS Codes for M&S.
Working Groups met in breakout sessions for the following areas.
- Dr. Turnitsa, Developing the M&S Workforce
- Dr. Garrett, Practical Application of the National M&S Research Agenda
- Dr. Eric Weisel, NAICS Codes for Modeling and Simulation
The day concluded with short briefings on each of the breakout sessions and closing remarks by Dr. Fujimoto and RADM Robb.