INTERACTIVE DISTRIBUTED LOGISTICS NETWORK SIMULATION

THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP CONCEPTS FOR A "META" LANGUAGE WHICH WILL ALLOW EFFICIENT CONSTRUCTION OF DISTRIBUTED GAMING SIMULATIONS OF LOGISTICS NETWORKS. BY DEVELOPING THE MODELING OBJECTS AND TOOLS FOR A META LANGUAGE, WE WILL BE ABLE TO QUICKLY DEVELOP GAMING SIMULATIONS WHICH FAITHFULLY REPRODUCE THE ACTUAL LOGISTICS ENVIRONMENT. OUR INTENT IS TO DESIGN A VERY HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGE THAT IS FLEXIBLE AND ROBUST ENOUGH TO ALLOW THE ACCURATE AND COST-EFFICIENT REPLICATION OF THE DIVERSE LOGISTICS FUNCTIONS FOUND IN COMBINED ARMS WARFARE. IT IS ENVISIONED THAT MANY OF THE DATA OBJECTS AND THE GRAPHICAL INTERFACE WILL PARALLEL THAT OF THE CAPS LOGISTICS TOOLKIT/TM, A META LANGUAGE THAT WE HAVE DEVELOPED FOR DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF LOGISTICS NETWORKS. WE WILL DEVELOP AND PROTOTYPE NEW CONCEPTSFOR SIMULATING MOVEMENT OF TRANSPORTATION ASSETS, PERSONNEL, RESUPPLY, AND MAINTENANCE. WE WILL ALSO INCLUDE THE ABILITY TO INTERACTIVELY GENERATE AND DYNAMICALLY MODIFY ASSIGNMENT AND SCHEDULING OF MATERIAL MOVEMENTS, TRANSPORTATION ASSETS, AND OTHER RESOURCES OR FACILITIES RELEVANT TO THE LOGISTICS NETWORK. THE RESULTING META LANGUAGE WILL SUPPORT SIMULTANEOUS INTERACTIVE SIMULATIONS FOR PERSONNEL TRAINING, WAR GAMING, AND DEVELOPING INSIGHT INTO LOGISTICS NETWORK BEHAVIOR. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - META LANGUAGE SOFTWARE TO SUPPORT CONSTRUCTION OF DISTRIBUTED GAMING SIMULATIONS OF LOGISTICS NETWORKS WILL HAVE IMMEDIATE APPLICATION IN BOTH THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR. MILITARY PLANNERS WILL BE ABLE TO DEVELOP COST-EFFICIENT APPLICATION QUICKLY FOR TRAINING AND EDUCATION PURPOSES IN MANY AREAS INCLUDING DEPLOYMENT PLANNING AND LOGISTICAL SUPPORT OF COMBINED ARMS WARFARE. NON-MILITARY APPLICATIONS INCLUDE UNIVERSITY AND PRIVATESECTOR EDUCATION AS AN AID TO GENERAL INSIGHT INTO THE DESIGN AND EXECUTION OF A LOGISTICS NETWORK.