Developers at Quantico will be able to project realistic images of new equipment as they build it, print 3-D parts on demand, and tour vehicle prototypes in a virtual reality room, thanks to a new 2,700-square foot modeling and simulation facility that opened its doors this month.

Built by the Georgia Tech Research Institute as part of its ongoing partnership with Marine Corps Systems Command, the complex, with eight design desks and three virtual reality workstations, will allow the team to take full advantage of the Framework for Assessing, Cost and Technology, a new Marine Corps-owned software program that creates 3-D models of new machines and equipment as they're being conceptualized.

A designer can input a proposed change to a prototype vehicle model — for example, an increase in tire size — and see exactly how it will affect every aspect of the structure, from size to balance and proportion.

"For the Marine Corps, this was a very big undertaking to make this leap into model-based systems engineering and identify all the implications," said Mike O'Neal, the director of Modeling and Simulation at Marine Corps Systems Command. "We were able to demonstrate, in fact, that it really works."

While the software belongs to the Marine Corps, O'Neal said the Army is now using a version of it. Other countries, including Australia and Japan, have also expressed interest in using FACT, he said, and conversations to make that happen are ongoing.

O'Neal said the facility, a first of its kind for Systems Command, will also improve collaboration over distance with troops and developers from other bases and locations.

The virtual reality capabilities that include a modular viewing port to tour gear as it's being built also enable staff at the facility to hold remote meetings in a virtual "war room" that can be customized like an office, down to what's hanging on the walls.

"The biggest problem we have right now is that everyone wants their avatars to look a certain way," O'Neal joked. "Mine looks like the Penguin from Batman."

With all this far-out technology, he said, the first challenge is to get designers comfortable and familiar with the new equipment, from the high-performance computing and real-time changes to the heightened emphasis on collaboration. Though the new capabilities replace a lot of old processes, he said, they don't supplant the human design element.

"This doesn't replace the engineers. What it does is allow the engineers to do more than they did in the past," O'Neal said. "People used to say, 'we want the best performance at the lowest cost, and we would stop there. What we're able to say now is, 'let's look at things where there are multiple options. We have multiple engines that would work.'"

The upshot is that developing performance requirements becomes less risky and costly, because everything can be realistically modeled out beforehand, he said.

The facility's 3-D printer will be used to create smaller components for on-the-spot demonstrations. O'Neal said one recent project involved printing hinges for a backpack design.

But working with the printer could pave the way for more ambitious uses, he said.

"One of the things the Navy is looking at and the Marines are also beginning to address is, with consumable parts in a harsh environment, manufacturing on demand in the field," he said. "You could bring raw stock out into the field and actually have [parts] be 3-D printed there."

In addition to Systems Command projects, O'Neal said the the modeling and simulation capabilities available at the new facility could be applied to amphibious shipbuilding, ground and amphibious vehicle design, and just about everything else.

Systems Command is already working with the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab to explore how running models and simulations could better refine project requirements before spending time and money to create prototypes.

With the Office of Naval Research, the new technology may also be used to simulate project development timelines and point out savings or value.

"We can go back and say, 'ONR, if you had dollars to expedite [this project], this is the benefit,'" O'Neal said.

The full range of possibilities for all these new predictive analysis tools, he said, is still becoming clear.

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