TC3Sim 2020 for PEO STRI

Engineering & Computer Simulations (ECS) has recently delivered an enhanced version of the U.S. Army’s Tactical Combat Casualty Care Simulation, TC3Sim. TC3Sim was originally conceived over 16 years ago as part of a research and development platform. The latest upgraded version, TC3Sim 2020, has now transitioned to the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI). TC3Sim 2020 will be shown at the Joint Medical Modeling & Simulation Expo, presented virtually by the Defense Health Agency on October 15.

TC3Sim 2020 will also be used for research and development at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center (CCDC SC), SFC Paul Ray Smith Simulation and Training Technology Center (STTC). The trainer will continue to influence future training development for combat medics and to incorporate ongoing research in order to improve the quality of training for warfighters.

Waymon Armstrong, ECS CEO/President, explains: “As an innovator in military medical training, ECS has continually invested in new technological developments. We are bringing this same commitment to the U.S. Army’s TC3Sim 2020. This upgraded trainer demonstrates how warfighters can effectively collaborate to further enhance their training experience and learning opportunities. The transformational use of extended reality (XR), integrated with ground-breaking haptics technology, not only improves the quality and retention of training, but will potentially lead to saving lives on and off the battlefield.”

For more on how the military is increasing the bar on performance, read  Measuring and Evaluating – With Greater Purpose.

Some of the improvements and new features within TC3Sim 2020 include extended gameplay beyond Care Under Fire (CUF), Tactical Field Care (TFC), into prolonged field care via secondary assessment; detailed objectives and After-Action Review (AAR) for critical measures; and multi-service scenarios and roles including Army, USMC, Navy, and Air Force operations.

ECS worked with the Product Manager for Medical Simulation (PdM MedSim) to define requirements and culminated in a user assessment with instructors and end-users at the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence (MEDCoE). Their team of subject matter experts and software developers designed a “first person thinker” serious game application based on TC 8-800 and Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) critical skills.

The updated TC3Sim 2020 technology, architecture, and content are also being leveraged to advance the innovation in the research branch of TC3Sim with a realistic sense of touch and interaction generated through haptic devices. This military medical research presents combat medics with complex scenarios in which to make decisions and perform interventions to treat injuries sustained in battle. By incorporating haptics technology integrated within multiple extended reality (XR) and haptics platforms that enable realistic touch, force feedback, and precise motion tracking, medics and soldiers train by bandaging a wound, assessing injuries, and performing highly tactile procedures while also having to respond to threats during CUF. Trainees can use their hands to perform actions intuitively, immediately seeing and hearing the effects and feeling the pressure, sensation, or movement of their actions. This allows learners to develop the spatial context and muscle memory needed to practice life-saving tasks that transfer to the physical world. The ECS research team plans to share its knowledge of the science of learning by making necessary enhancements to improve the training provided by TC3Sim 2020.

The suite of training capabilities that TC3Sim 2020 offers directly addresses the challenges currently faced in military medical training, including maintaining “point of demand” integrated, interoperable, and synchronous medical training environments and more.