Modeling sound as a non-lethal weapon in the COMBATXXI simulation model

• Main Author: Grimes, Joseph D.
• Other Authors: Crowson, Jeff
• Format: Others
• Published: Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School 2012
• Subjects: Nonlethal weapons; Combat; Computer simulation; Bioacoustics; Sound; Physiological effect; Psychological aspects
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/2146

Modeling and representing combat and individual soldiers is a complex task. Several factors influence combatant behavior. Using non-lethal methods has become one way for combatant commanders to accomplish their wartime mission. Current the Army and Marine Corps models are not capable of non-lethal weapon replication. The Training and Doctrine Command Analysis Center (TRAC) Monterey California has funded a program of research related to individual combatant representation in modeling and simulation. Modeling non-lethal weapons was identified by TRAC-Monterey as important to better represent actual combat. This thesis used COMBATXXI , a high-resolution, closed-form, stochastic, analytical combat simulation, to replicate non-lethals and study the effects on individual combatants. Existing source code was modified to model the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), the non-lethal platform chosen for this research. LRAD is an acoustic device designed to modify the behavior of personnel with a high intensity warning tone. Once the LRAD capability was developed, a scenario was developed to test the simulated effects of the device. A model was developed to accurately determine behaviors of individual combatants. It was concluded that the implementation of this new non-lethal capability in COMBATXXI improved the model and created a more realistic representation of actual combat conditions.