“Better Info Safer Soldiers”Integrating Vulnerability Analysis & Historical Battle Visualization to Enhance Strategic Insights

Grade:

10

Teacher:

Alfred Santos

This project developed a decision-support system that uses historical battle data, terrain analysis, and image-derived features to predict battlefield outcomes and enhance strategic planning. The objective was to determine whether a similarity-based computational model could analyze terrain, force distribution, elevation, visibility, and environmental complexity to improve decision-making and increase mission success. Historical battle records were collected and structured into a dataset containing terrain characteristics, friendly and hostile force positions, elevation advantages, mobility costs, and visual features extracted from battlefield imagery. Using the Rust programming language, a similarity analysis engine was created to compare current battlefield conditions with past battles by applying a weighted scoring function. The model identified the most similar historical scenarios and used weighted aggregation to predict the likely outcome. Results showed that the model consistently matched current battlefield conditions with historical urban battles such as Fallujah, Mosul, and Aleppo, which shared similar terrain density, elevation advantage, and structural complexity. These cases exceeded similarity thresholds (>6.0) and collectively produced a dominant probability for FriendlyVictory outcomes. The findings supported the hypothesis that terrain features, particularly structural density and elevation advantage, significantly influence battlefield success. The system successfully demonstrated the ability to analyze complex environmental and positional variables and provide real-time strategic predictions. This study demonstrates that integrating historical data analysis, terrain modeling, and computational similarity scoring can enhance battlefield awareness and decision-making. Such systems may improve operational planning, reduce casualties, and provide interpretable, data-driven recommendations for modern military strategy.

Project presentation