The following is an introduction to a virtual academy concept demonstrator that VEGA created for ITEC 2008.
Technician Mike Smith had a problem: the gas turbine engine he was working on had developed an intermittent fault and he was struggling to diagnose the cause. However, when he checked in to the maintenance unit’s classroom his former instructor John Archer was waiting there for him. Together, they walked around the classroom’s maintenance rig, which had been set up with the same engine model. John pointed out a number of areas to check and together they discussed possible scenarios. Within ten minutes, they had a solution. Mike went back to the hangar in Kandahar and John returned to his desk at Cosford.
Next door to the maintenance classroom, a discussion area has been set up and delegates from several different forces are taking part. In the centre of the room, a specialist is explaining the latest satellite imagery superimposed on a battlespace map. Communications personnel demonstrate their latest proposal for forward communications using an overlay of fibre and radio links, floating in three dimensions over the terrain. Elsewhere, people move between small groups engrossed in conversations, or wander around the room until they hear something of interest.
One cluster of people from four different NATO countries leaves the conference room, heads off to a separate area to discuss disposal techniques for a new variety of IED that had been deployed against forces in the last week. The academy’s urban environment training area has been set up to generate a number of devices in random locations for them to detect and disable. As they move through the town, they hear the subject matter expert behind them, pointing out items of interest. The delegates are used to this immersive and authentic environment and have already demonstrated the effectiveness of lessons learned here in real situations across the globe.
At the same time, although his flight from Brussels to London has been delayed, Bill Edwards walks into a meeting room to meet up with his colleagues. He talks them through his proposed new business processes for the academy on the PowerPoint presentation behind him. The presentation is well received by the team and so they call in representatives from the West Coast office and within a couple of minutes entire management team sitting in the same room hearing what Bill has to say. He is given the go-ahead he needs.
This is the power of a virtual academy.
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