Made in India ‘Digital sand model’ by Indian startup hopes to ensure better border security

Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, technology startup, VizExperts, has created a Digital Sand Model(DSM) – a solution for operation planning, mission briefing and training, for the Indian paramilitary, police and the armed forces. When compared to the traditional static model, the digital sand model offers improved situational awareness to the armed forces through integrated, true 3D visualization of terrain data and online data from field formations.

Explains Praveen Bhaniramka- Founder and CEO of VizExperts, “Informed decision making in the real world requires agglomeration of as much contextual information, as possible, in real time. However, the historic development of domain specific applications, systems and formats, had rendered discrete data sources that are incompatible with each other. But, today, with the push to reduce uncertainty in critical decision making, there is a convergence of several technologies and this is breaking down a lot of information silos. The Digital Sand Model (DSM) is one such convergence platform borne out of the integration of 3D GIS, simulation and gaming technologies.”

This integrated solution is widely used by the Indian army, paramilitary, police organizations and special forces for operation planning, mission briefing and training. The digital model offers true 3D visualization of all terrains including urban, rural, mountainous and desert areas for operation planning. Integration of organization specific workflows for training and input data integration for geo-tagged incident management is also made possible. An option of 3D scenario creation for mission briefing with immersive fly-through and walkthrough of operational area and animated 3D models depicting events and unit movement is also possible.

Real time view of terrain
While the traditional sand model has been an indispensable for tactical training and operational briefing purposes, the digitization of the traditional workflow has helped in recreating the sand model as a more accurate, dynamic, real-time, multi-view point rendering system, while retaining the simplicity and user friendliness of the traditional sand model workflow.

The complete operational area of the forces can be accurately mapped and modelled as an integrated 3D geospatial database with all the mobile and fixed assets of the force. For instance, the DSM project for BSF involved creation of all border assets of BSF along the eastern and western theatres, including BP, BOP, Border Fence, BFL and other mobile assets.

“The system can help in breaking down information silos and giving a geo-spatial context to all forms of data, helping in more informed decision making. The paramilitary forces use this aspect of the system for integration of SITREP (Situational Report) data received from field units everyday, helping them in better incident mapping,” states Praveen Bhaniramka.

Today, ‘What if’ scenarios can be created in an engaging and immersive manner on DSM, helping in mission briefing and evaluating alternative course of action. The forces use scenarios to create fly-through and walkthrough of the operational area, giving users a sense of actually being present in the operational area. This ultimately translates to more effective action on the field.

More effective training
Specifically, from a training standpoint, creating a huge physical sand mold or equivalent structure, to scale, to depict the operational area along with map sheets, is a time consuming and man-power intensive process. However, since DSM is based on 3D GIS technology, the same thing can be done digitally at a fraction of the time and cost, to the highest levels of realism.

“Sand model training is often an instructor driven, collaborative process. The all digital workflow of DSM helps in collaborative planning with multi-touch interaction and allows instructors to evaluate and score the responses of the trainees,” states Praveen Bhaniramka. Since, this is all based on actual satellite imagery of the operational area, the time vantage is very high compared to traditional maps.

Events like unit movement, evaluation of alternative course of action would have to be done using plastic toys and sticks on a physical sand model. But, with the built-in 3D model library and analysis tools, this can be done in a much more intuitive way on the Digital Sand Model.

Organizations such as the Border Security Force, (BSF) HQ use the DSM for operation planning and geo-tagged incident management along the border. The Infantry School, MHOW uses DSM for mission briefing and training senior officers. The National Police Academy (NPA), Hyderabad uses DSM for sand model training of officers.

India is one of the early adopters of this technology and has an edge over many other nations in effectively using this for operation planning, at a senior decision making level and for enhanced situational awareness, at a tactical level.