Title: Virtual Worlds for C2 Design, Analysis, and Experimentation

This paper will address the ability of recent technological advances in Virtual Worlds (VWs) to affect better submarine C2 design via increased participation by the fleet personnel in design and experimentation. With the rapid emergence and evolution of VWs over the past three years, the US Navy has investigated and applied multiple applications of this technology to the undersea warfare (USW) domain. One area of application that is currently being supported is C2 collaborative engineering and concept of operation exercises (COOPEXs). VWs enable all stakeholders to remotely, distributively, and collaboratively participate in the design of prototype systems in real time while utilizing video, voice, chat, and intuitive build tools. These prototypes can then be used to analyze pre-recorded C2 events for the purpose of exposing information flow through a C2 space and visualization of C2 metrics. In addition, VWs allow these virtual prototypes to be evaluated by fleet personnel immersed into the environment with enough fidelity to allow operator performance assessment. This is because VWs allow for live connections with full control to real-world tactical systems. These capabilities are currently being utilized by multiple USW programs for next generation submarine attack center design