Operating Status Summer 2024:

On-site (The internship will be performed entirely at the lab)

Student Requirements:

Students must be solely U.S. citizens. (Dual citizens and permanent residents are not eligible.) Students must be turning 18 years old before the start of the internship. They must also have a valid driver’s license and their own transportation to the site.

Mission

To be the principal Navy center for research, development, test and evaluation, acquisition and product support of training systems, to provide Inter-service coordination and training systems support for the Army, Marine Corps.

About the Lab

Formed in 1941 as the nation’s first military training simulation developer, NAWCTSD Orlando serves as the Navy’s Technical Center of Excellence in the research, development, acquisition, on-site testing, and sustainment of training solutions. These solutions are provided in four product lines: Training Systems, Training Content, Training Services and Intellectual Services. NAWCTSD Orlando is the Navy’s principal center for modeling, simulation, and training systems technologies. The Center provides training systems development for a wide spectrum of military programs, including aircraft, surface ships, submarines, and other specialized requirements.

What is unique about this lab?

The lab is located in the Research Park near the University of Central Florida.

About the Internship

We are looking for motivated students with an interest in expanding their knowledge and developing their hands-on experience in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Electronics, Aerodynamics, Psychology, Instructional Systems Technology, and Material Science Engineering (software, hardware, processing, etc.).

What will I do any given day as an intern at this lab?

Interns participate in lab functions in a number of ways including (but not limited to) assisting mentors with guided research projects; job and project shadowing with professional researchers; networking with STEM professionals and other interns; attending technical meetings; group mentoring sessions; touring labs; and other professional development activities.

What majors and disciplines are a good fit for interning at this lab?

• Aerodynamics
• Aeronautical Engineering
• Aeronautics
• Applied Engineering
• Applied Mathematics
• Behavioral Science
• Chemical Engineering
• Computer Science
• Cryptology
• Cybersecurity
• Electrical Engineering
• Electronic Engineering
• Engineering
• Information Sciences
• Instructional Systems Technology
• Management/Leadership
• Material Sciences
• Mechanical Engineering
• Medicine/Health
• Organizational Development
• Programming
• Psychology (Industrial Organization and Human Factors)
• Robotics
• Social Sciences
• Statistics
• Systems Engineering
• Telecommunications

Other related fields may be considered.

What will I learn as an intern at this lab?

As part of the internship, you will get hands-on experience supporting research, development, or engineering projects to deliver simulation systems and training solutions for one or more domain areas, e.g., Navy Aircrafts, Submarines, Ships, International Programs, and Science and Technology (S&T).

What kinds of projects do interns at this lab participate in?

Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) Distributed Training: LVC training capability is the appropriate and efficient integration and interoperability of real and synthetic people and systems in order to more effectively train Navy forces. An Aviation Warfare Training Development (AWTD) F/A-18C TOFT Fidelity analysis effort is underway to quantify the training value added by high-definition visual systems and motion cueing seats, with special emphasis on mobility training tasks for field carrier landing practice (FCLP) and carrier qualification simulator events.

Immersive, Augmented Reality, Multi-Sensory Training Environment: NAWCTSD conducts human in the loop experimentations in virtual training environments to quantify levels of training effectiveness, training transfer, virtual environment (VE) usability, team performance, and simulation side effects. These efforts focus on demonstrating individual and team training capabilities using semi-automated forces (SAFs), human behavior models (HBMs), distributed briefing and debriefing, distributed performance assessment and diagnosis, intelligent tutoring systems, and networked virtual environments (NVE). Examples include development of the Helicopter Control Officer Trainer Prototype, the Aerial Refueling Part-Task Trainer, and work in Geospecific Displacement Maps for Real-Time Stereoscopic Training Simulation.

Distributed and Deployable Training Technologies: NAWCTSD develops simulation-based trainers (e.g. scenario-authoring, radar, sonar) to provide configurable training for individuals, sub-teams, and teams to meet a variety of training objectives. Work focuses on the development of performance measurement and after action review training simulation technologies for distributed and deployed teams, and includes ATSNAP trainer for submarine pilots and navigators, ATCIC combat information centers trainer for LCS, and Modular Advanced Technologies to Support Fire Team Skill Acquisition and Leadership Training. Future work will evaluate the use of hand-held tools for Individual and Team Performance Evaluations, involving features such as time-stamped assessments, checklists of key activities, capture of visual or auditory segments of a simulation exercise for use in after-action-reviews, and integration of multiple streams of data from several evaluators.

Game-based Training: NAWCTSD researchers conduct work examining the viability of gaming applications and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) tools, including the CryEngine3 environment, for certain well-defined training applications. Current work evaluates immersive game technologies for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education, as well as a gaming scenario for training blood-typing. Research includes investigations using avatar-based simulations and commercial flight simulators in military training environments.

Human Computer Interaction: HCI evaluations include examination of ideal hardware configurations for deployable virtual training systems and examination of marksmanship training systems. Examples include evaluation of the physical properties of a mid-level fidelity training system and computer platforms with different footprints for training applications.

Usability: NAWCTSD also conducts research on improvements to system usability, including the Usability Survey Enabling Research and Assessment for Intuitive Designs (USER AID), which seeks to develop an empirically validated heuristic-based tool to support usability assessment and generation of design guidance.

Human Systems Integration: NAWCTSD provides direct support of Navy surface, subsurface, and aviation programs to insure human considerations of manpower, personnel, training, human factors, habitability, survivability, and safety are included throughout the systems engineering and acquisition processes. Major focus is on maximizing human-system performance and decreasing the total ownership cost of future Navy systems. NAWCTSD also supports virtual environment submarine (VESUB) laboratory investigations and the Battle Stations 21 (BS-21) shipboard procedures trainer.

Unmanned Aerial Systems: Research in this area addresses communication protocols, interface design, spatial discordance, operator skill requirements and skill requirement comparisons to aviation populations including aviators and air traffic controllers, and personnel selection requirements. Additional efforts focus on cross-platform solutions in training and interface design that will accommodate the requirements of common UAS platforms. Work is underway to support the PMA-281 requirement for a common UAS control station, including establishment of effective prototype and design models, as well as embedded training approaches.