Bio-terror preparedness exercise in a mixed reality environment

Abstract

The paper presents a dynamic data-driven mixed reality environment to complement a full-scale bio-terror preparedness exercise. The environment consists of a simulation of the virtual geographic locations involved in the exercise scenario, along with an artificially intelligent agent-based population. The crisis scenario, like the epidemiology of a disease or the plume of a chemical spill or radiological explosion, is then simulated in the virtual environment. The public health impact, the economic impact and the public approval rating impact is then calculated based on the sequence of events defined in the scenario, and the actions and decisions made during the full-scale exercise. The decisions made in the live exercise influence the outcome of the simulation, and the outcomes of the simulation influence the decisions being made during the exercise. The mixed reality environment provides the long-term and large-scale impact of the decisions made during the full-scale exercise. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.