UTSAF: Getting The Best of Consumer Graphics into Military Simulations

Abstract

Rapid advances in consumer electronics have led to the anomaly that consumer gaming hardware and software now provide better interactive three-dimensional graphics than military and other specialized systems costing orders of magnitude more. UTSAF is bridging software written to take advantage of the power of modern gaming systems by allowing them to participate in distributed simulations with military simulators such as the Modular Semi-Automated Forces (ModSAF). UTSAF parses the ModSAF network protocol and uses the information gained to control entities within the Unreal Tournament video game, using the Gamebots modification. This paper describes the advantages of game-based simulation, and the UTSAF bridging and control architecture.

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