Messaging Interaction Simulation

"Space systems are expensive to develop and deploy. Oftentimes, budgeting tradeoffs dictate increases in spacecraft development at the expense of developing the training systems needed to learn how to operate it. This results in on-the-job training usingoperational equipment versus using a controlled training environment. This is especially the case in learning the use of subscriber terminals by space crews. To counter this problem, we propose the Collaborative Operational Unit Messaging Simulation andInteraction Modeling (COMSIM) system. COMSIM applies advances in computer-supported collaborative learning to create a subscriber terminal learning environment separate from operational equipment. Additionally, COMSIM trains message interaction as theinherently collaborative activity it is through innovative applications of enterprise software, intelligent agents, and distributed simulations. A COMSIM-based training system will train space crews to become expert in messaging and provide aerospaceforces to see the big picture value messaging plays in overall military operations. Potential commercial applications include COMSIM-based training environments for commercial telecommunication services that are expected to greatly increase in availabilityover the next decade. Additionally, we foresee opportunity to apply COMSIM to the war on terrorism as the Federal Government engineers computer support and information sharing systems to