The US Army Operational Test Command (OTC) at Fort Hood "is responsible for ensuring each piece of equipment is operationally tested before being placed in the hands of warfighters". Part of their charter is to "test or assess systems in a realistic operational environment using typical soldiers to determine whether systems are effective, suitable, and survivable." 

While much of the testing the OTC performs occurs in live engagements (either war games or actual battlefield conditions), they also use modeling and simulation technology extensively. The Battlefield Command Network Integration and Simulation (BCNIS) program is one tool that is used to "provide realistic situational awareness (SA) and a command and control (C2) tactical environment to support operational testing, without the costs and constraints of deploying a large number of physical units in the field."  

SCALABLE was contracted by the OTC to provide Live Virtual & Constructive (LVC) technology for the BCNIS program. The high level question that summarizes the goal of SCALABLE's participation:

"How do we make 30 radios think they are part of a 100 radio network ?"

Leveraging functionality from the SCALABLE EXata® simulation platform, BCNIS users are able to:

• Integrate existing physical radios (both "legacy" equipment and new JTRS-based devices) with very large numbers of simulated radios in a real-time mode that behaves exactly as if all of the systems were deployed live in the field
• Experience the detailed effects on the communications process when network congestion and packet loss occurs
• Learn the impact of wireless channel effects and terrain variations on a highly mobile environment