Team Name
Boat Goats
Timeline
Fall 2023 – Spring 2024
Students
- Abraham Rincon
- Danny Le
- Harrison Young
- Mubtasim Rakheen
- Steven Culwell
Sponsor
United States Army Corps of Engineers (Jason Knight)
Abstract
The United States Army of Corps of Engineers (USACE) has a long history of engineering ways to efficiently train the US army on operating vehicles, including naval transportation. Recently, they’ve began looking into ways to digitally train their team. Enter Boat Goats, a team of UTA students assigned to develop a realistic boating simulator.
With the project purpose in mind, we’ve decided to utilize Unreal Engine 5 due to it’s realistic features and pre-designed assets which would allow us to complete the project in a timely manner. We also have added a steering wheel and pedal attachment, to help simulate driving a real boat.
Background
Currently, most naval training requires using physical boats. This training uses large amounts of material. This is where our boating simulator comes into play. It would save the military money on physical resources and instead allow the training to take place on a free to reproduce software.
The idea of boating simulator isn’t new, however our application would be different from the ones the military is currently developing. At the moment, the US army is concerned with simulating large, commercial boats along pre-designed passageways.[2][3] This is to help their people navigate across pre-designed passage-ways. Our project, however, aims at teaching the user basic ski boat controls and boating law.
Project Requirements
Simulation is to contain designated speed limits across areas of the map.
The user is to be alerted when they are breaking a boating law(speeding).
Map is to contain structures such as bridges and underpasses.
Weather conditions apply to map and boat.
Simulation should fit on one screen.
Basic UI of the boat (Speedometer, wheel).
Patrol boats and bowie should be placed across the river.
Simulation maps should be located in a river based environment (built off maps of real life locations).
The game should run on a Windows PC.
System Overview
The USACE Boating Simulator consists of multiple layers that interact with each other to ensure the game behaves as wanted. In Unreal Engine, every interaction is coded in C++ and sends messages amongst each other each frame to keep the game going.
- Environment Layer: Contains the in-game environment where the simulator is run, such as a river.
- Physics Layer: Controls the interactions between objects, such as collision and speed.
- Actors Layer: Contains the objects laid across the map, including boats (player’s and NPC), bridges, and trees.
- User Input Layer: Handles input that the user gives to control the game, either through keyboard/mouse or the attached steering wheel configuration.
- User Interface Layer: Handles any UI that appears on the player’s screen, including main, pause, and settings menus, and real-time speedometer and speeding alerts.
- User Information: Contains data related to the user, in-game settings, and variables.
Results
In the end, our team filled in the requirements given by our sponsor. We successfully developed a working simulator with semi-realistic functionality within the span of 2 semesters. We also managed to develop a speed limit system that can be reused for new maps and levels.
Future Work
Overall, the team effectively met the sponsor’s expectation, achieving the development of a basic boating simulator despite little level of realism. Notably, the team successfully engineered a basic river map and implemented a basic boat driving simulation. Additionally, the team met the sponsor’s requirement to alert players when they’re speeding in certain areas, further helping in training users on basic boating laws. Although the simulator still has some levels of realism to be added, it serves as a solid foundation for future development. Future plans can include adding natural obstacles across the river, creating more maps, and having different boats.
Project Files
Project Charter (project_charter_latex)
System Requirements Specification (srs)
Architectural Design Specification (architectural_design_specification_latex)
Detailed Design Specification (detailed_design_specification_latex)
Poster (link)
References
[1] P. Bouchner, “Interactive Driving Simulators – History, Design and their Utilization in the area of HMI Research,” International Journal of Systems Applications, Engineering, and Development, p. 180, 2016, available online: https://www.naun.org/main/UPress/saed/2016/a482005-279.pdf.
[2] USACE, “ERDC Ship/Tow Simulator,” USACE, 2012, available online: https://www.erdc.usace.army.mil/media/fact-sheets/fact-sheet-articleview/article/476712/erdc-shiptow-simulator/.
[3] ——, “Ship Simulation for Military Operational Planning,” USACE, 2015, available online: https://www.naun.org/main/UPress/saed/2016/a482005-279.pdf.
[4] K. Ervin, “Ship Simulator of the Future in Virtual Reality,” ERDC, p. 9, 2022, available online: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1180671.pdf.
[5] Linde Virtual Academy, “Hyperrealistic Virtual Reality â How Far Away Are We?” Linde Virtual Academy, 2023, available online: https://vr.linde.com/2023/01/23/hyperrealistic-virtual-realityhow-far-away-are-we/.
