Simulation Optimization Engine (SIMON II) for Missile Defense

Missile defense remains a crucial component for protecting the United States and her allies from potential long-range threats. Modeling and simulation (M&S) is recognized by the Missile Defense Agency as a key enabling technology supporting Warfighters and analysts in ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) design, testing, performance assessment, training, wargaming, and system acquisition. The use of M&S becomes more essential as the numbers, capabilities, complex behaviors, and interactions between evolving BMDS elements, configurations, and threats dramatically increase. Currently, exploration of decision variables within a BMDS-level simulation is a manual process lacking an automated method to determine the optimal decision variable values. Under the Phase I effort, we demonstrated the feasibility of a Simulation Optimization Engine (SIMON) for missile defense. Under the proposed Phase II effort, we will develop and evaluate a full-scope SIMON prototype that features the use of evolutionary algorithms to discover optimal parameters of decision variables for BMDS-level simulations. This is complemented by a suite of graphical configuration, analysis, and visualization tools to support the M&S operator. This BMDS-level simulation optimization capability and toolset is integrated with BMD I-Sim and additional M&S tools to support the automated exploration of offensive scenario designs, BMDS architectures, and operational decision-making strategies.