Using Block-Based Programming and Sunburst Branching to Plan and Generate Crisis Training Simulations

Simulation-based exercises for crisis response are difficult to plan. We suggest an intuitive planning interface where exercise managers can use block-based programming to create machine-readable training vignettes. An answer set programming module interprets these vignettes and generates all possible actions and causal relations, which are then visualised for the exercise manager in a sunburst diagram. This allows exercise managers to create training vignettes using visual techniques and to see the possible results and causal relations of the trainees’ actions. This facilitates using exercise results to adjust further vignette design.