New York City has been on the receiving end of terrorism, and its officials have an urgent interest in preparing for future attacks. Their emergency-response training choices are therefore extremely important. To help gird its personnel for the next big event, the city's Office of Emergency Management has acquired a multistation ADMS-COMMAND virtual-reality training system from Orlando-based ETC Simulation, a subsidiary of Environmental Tectonics Corp.

     ADMS-COMMAND is one of several training systems built upon ETC's ADMS (Advanced Disaster Management Simulator), a state-of-the-art interactive virtual reality simulation platform that depicts real-world situations to help train responders and test emergency plans. In ADMS-COMMAND, users face realistic incident scenes and utilize virtual resources to manage them.

     The NYC OEM contract covers a multidiscipline team-training system and full library of customized scenarios, with an integrated after-action review and evaluation component. Officials will use it in their Citywide Incident Management System (CIMS) training.

     "The idea of ADMS is that it's a bridge between classroom instruction and live field experience," says ETC Simulation Product Manager Adam McCard. "It allows trainees to actually work under the stresses of an evolving situation, with a realism you can't get with standard tabletops. Plus, you can prepare for events that are impossible to train as live exercises."

     The realism ADMS presents includes high-fidelity 3D visualization with directional sound, and can be expanded into vehicle cabs/controls and motion platforms, and even scent simulation. Training staff run simulations from a facilitator station; trainees navigate customized geospecific scenes that can include local neighborhoods and structures, and manipulate virtual resources that reflect local capabilities. When they take actions, ADMS determines and depicts their real-time effect.

     For large agencies and departments, a system of such complexity can run into six figures. But smaller agencies have options to utilize ADMS too: The company offers single-station systems that can be used in classroom-style instruction; training services using a portable five-station team system; and leasing arrangements for those not wishing to buy.

     "It's a great way for smaller departments to experience the benefit of virtual training," McCard says. "It's still thought of as a new thing for a lot of people, and it lets organizations benefit from our latest and greatest developments without having to take ownership of the system."