Visual Simulation Objects - An Integrated Took Kit for Modeling and Simulation

Visual Simulation Objects (VS0), an innovative approach to Collaborative Virtual Prototyping, can be rapidly commercialized to improve the way new software and hardware products are brought to market. Tightly based on Model Reference Technology developedat the Air Force ESC, it extends that capability, providing a more efficient way of developing and maintaining mission evaluation models. Colored Petri Nets are used to visually design complex, distributed systems in a collaborative environment, allowingthe behavior of the prototype design to be evaluated before a physical prototype is built. As a component of the C4ISR tool kit, VSO immediately improves JIMM, and its integration with EADSIM provides a powerful mission simulation capability. It willextend the JCAPS standard by providing both a Design Simulation capability that evaluates distributed-processing systems and a Mission Simulation capability to evaluate campaign-level, military worth models such as STORM. VSO has an immediate and directapplication in the commercial world for re-engineering legacy software-hardware systems dating to the early 1970s. Currently, brokerage, financial and health care institutions struggle with outdated hardware and undocumented software that cannot keep up inthe 24x7 world of the Internet, and there are no adequate tools available that can aid in the re-design.