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Background for
Extensible Modeling and Simulation Framework
As the Department of Defense (DoD) is engaged in both warfighting and
institutional transformation for the new millennium, DoD Modeling &
Simulation (M&S) also needs to identify and adopt transformational
technologies which provide direct tactical relevance to warfighters.
Because the only software systems that composably scale to worldwide scope
utilize the World Wide Web, it is evident that an extensible Web-based
framework shows great promise to scale up the capabilities of M&S systems
to meet the needs of training, analysis, acquisition, and the operational
warfighter. By embracing commercial web technologies as a shared
communications platform and a ubiquitous delivery framework, DoD
M&S can fully leverage mainstream practices for enterprise-wide software
development.
An interdisciplinary team from the Naval Postgraduate School, SAIC Inc.,
and George Mason University has begun to investigate how the high
potential of the new technologies can be brought to bear on the modeling
and simulation problems DoD faces today. It is clear that Web-based
technologies have the capability to support interoperability of the
spectrum of DoD models and simulations including constructive, virtual,
and live as well as integrating legacy simulation frameworks and the
increasingly important distance-learning technologies. The next step is to
define a consistent framework for integrating the new technologies to meet
future challenges in a way that also harmonizes as much as possible with
legacy systems. To do this well requires the persective of a broad
cross-section of technologists from defense and commercial sectors. We
have begun this process by organizing an invitational workshop that will
involve some of the brightest and most experienced technologists from
both sectors. The workshop is charged with producing a definitive
top-level extensible modeling and simulation framework for consideration
by the defense modeling and simulation community.