Advanced Way to Teach Military History

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Researchers have developed a battlefield simulation technology refining virtual reality methods to provide a useful tool for future military leaders. Their new approach to understanding battlefield history was demonstrated in the development of a virtual reality tour of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France.

Their work is part of the FORCES (4S)—Strategy, Security and Social Systems Initiative in Purdue’s College of Liberal Arts. The initiative supports the use of social scientific research in strategy and security activities to shape long-range and global military, political and organizational decision-making. 

The team at FORCES is working to bring the project to partners in the U.S. Air Force Air War College. “We’re exploring a new approach to group behavior that has the potential to significantly change wargaming and crisis management,” 

“A key aspect is creating and sharing new ways to teach military history, plus to further study and understanding of the military arts and sciences,” said Robert Kirchubel, one of the researchers. “I’m most excited about the project’s potential: to turn the clock back, yet display a famous battle in a technologically leading-edge fashion in order to bring military history alive to a new generation of students and scholars.”

The team has formed a startup called FORCES to help commercialize the technology, according to techxplore.com.