SYNAPSE evaluation: connecting a training system to VBS4

This example concerns a simulated civil-support exercise in VBS4. It proposes a SYNAPSE demonstration using a test controller and fictional vehicles inside a training environment. It reports no customer deployment, live-system connection or measured result.

Define the training-system boundary

An instructor wants an external exercise application to observe a simulated support vehicle and send a small set of permitted commands. The simulation and the exercise application have separate release cycles. Their owners need a clear interface that they can maintain when either side changes.

AIC and the customer agree the VBS4 and Simulation SDK versions, the external interface and the commands required for the demonstration. SYNAPSE provides the VBS integration gateway. Its common routing layer converts external requests into versioned, validated commands through controlled simulation adapters.

The test should begin with a deliberately small contract. Define the permitted command, the state needed by the exercise application and the events the instructor wants to review. Keep all participants and observations inside the agreed simulation environment.

Separate commands from frequent state updates

A command that changes the exercise and a stream of position updates have different delivery needs. SYNAPSE provides reliable command channels alongside paths for higher-rate state, events and telemetry. The demonstration should make the distinction visible to the engineers operating both sides.

Use the agreed interface to send a permitted command, observe its handling and inspect the corresponding simulation state. Then examine the state and telemetry exchanged while the fictional vehicle follows its scripted activity. Record the traffic and timing conditions so any performance observation can be understood in context.

SYNAPSE’s published integration options include TCP, UDP, MQTT, native interfaces and script bridges. Select the route supported by the proposed build and exercise application. Listing a transport does not by itself establish compatibility with every device or software version the customer owns.

Test faults where they enter the simulation

Send a deliberately invalid request from the test controller and inspect its validation result. Interrupt the test connection, reconnect it and examine what both systems report. The evaluation should establish how failed commands, delayed state and unexpected inputs are presented to the operator.

Agree the expected behaviour before running each fault case. Review the diagnostics and confirm that a failure in the external integration can be distinguished from a problem in the simulation itself. This gives the customer evidence about the controlled boundary and the work needed to support it.

SYNAPSE isolates VBS-specific implementation behind a Simulation SDK facade. Ask the engineers to identify which adapter or contract would need review if the simulator or external application changed. That maintenance question is as useful as the initial connection.

Run the demonstration inside the intended estate

The gateway is designed for local operation on simulation workstations and training networks, including disconnected estates. Check the dependencies and deployment arrangement against the customer’s actual exercise environment. Transport security, authentication, component signing and hardening are selected for that environment and its assurance requirements.

If the exercise needs recognisable UK geography, evaluate the VBS UK Dataset as a separate terrain requirement. Terrain content and the integration gateway solve different parts of the training problem, and each should have its own acceptance record.

Compare integration and maintenance effort

The final record should include the interface contract, compatible versions, observed command and state behaviour, fault cases and remaining integration work. Compare the cost of extending and maintaining that boundary with the customer’s current collection of bespoke plugins. Include support and future version changes before estimating a saving.

Read SYNAPSE and VBS4 simulation integration or discuss a scoped demonstration with AIC. Start with one external system and a small, explicit set of training functions.

View the SYNAPSE product page for capabilities, integration scope and the demonstration enquiry route.