Providing Realistic Complexity in Distributed Military Simulation Systems: The Dynamic Adaptive Threat Environment Architecture

Abstract

The military is at a crossroads in the development of its capabilities for battlespace simulation. The coming computing and networking capabilities can provide simulation environments with hitherto unachievable realism and complexity. However, the cost of software development and the current approach to assembling software and simulation systems may derail this capability. In our view, the development of the next generation of military simulation environments must be undertaken to accommodate unpredictable changes in the defining software. Fortunately, there are a number of recent but currently unexploited technological developments that can improve simulation systems. These technologies can enable simulation system development to be more efficient, less expensive, more interoperable, more maintainable, more modifiable, and more responsive to customer needs. The Dynamic Adaptive Threat Environment (DATE) system software architecture is our approach toward addressing the future needs of military simulation environments. In this paper we describe the architecture of the Dynamic Adaptive Threat Environment (DATE). DATE supports the development and deployment of different types of computer-generated actors (CGAs) in large-scale Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) and High Level Architecture (HLA) based simulation environments. To address issues in software architecture and rapid prototyping, the architecture exploits the technical advantages provided by object-oriented techniques, component software, software frameworks, migration assistants, and containerization to enable composability, flexibility, re-usability, and generality.