CAE Pursuing Digital Twin Projects

Former senior leaders of US forces in the UK and US made a case for national synthetic environments (NSE), also referred to as National Digital Twins, during CAE’s OneWorld 2021 online conference on 9 February.

Gen. Sir Richard Barrons (Ret), former commander of UK Joint Forces Command, describes an NSE as a “foundational enabler for the way that governments and militaries operate and succeed”.

Interested in more on the simulation and training trends in Europe? Check out  European Simulation and Training Innovation.

In the UK, the National Digital Twin programme (NDTp) was launched in July 2018 following recommendations of the National Infrastructure Commission’s 2017 'Data for the Public Good Report'. It has been described as “an ecosystem of connected digital twins”, essentially sharing data from one sector or organisation which can impact or inform another.

“Every service is looking to eliminate the boundaries of data sources and platforms to create a comprehensive operating environment,” explained Lt. Gen. Ray Palumbo (Ret.), the US Pentagon’s former Director of Defense Intelligence.

“Our forces need all-domain data access and visualization of data and sensors to deliver key analysis and decision assistance during operations, and they need this to make faster and better decisions.”

Pictured left: Gen. Sir Richard Barrons (Ret) considers an NSE a “transformational opportunity for every country”. Image credit: CAE

At the upper level, the digitally immersive ecosystem allows commanders across a multi-domain environment – land, sea, air, space and cyber – to conduct secure operations with a single common operating picture.

An NSE could also assist decision-making in areas of national policy and security. It could enable experimentation to drive developments in how governments and authorities can organize and operate differently to improve efficiency, increase resilience, and reduce costs. Responses to major emergencies or pandemics could be rehearsed at nationwide levels.CAE is positioning to act as a prime integrator for NSEs based on the company’s expertise in synthetic environments, artificial intelligence, data analytics, networks, and cloud computing.