MODULAR SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE FOR RAPID CREATION OF DIS SIMULATORS

DISTRIBUTED INTERACTIVE SIMULATION (DIS) SIMULATORS, DEVELOPED BY DARPA UNDER THE SIMNET PROGRAM, ARE CURRENTLY BEING USED FOR COMBINED ARMS TACTICAL TRAINING, AS WELL AS A CONTROLLED TESTBED FOR HYPOTHETICAL WEAPON SYSTEMS. BY INSERTING A SIMULATOR OF A HYPOTHETICAL VEHICLE INTO THE SIMNET WORLD, TRADEOFF STUDIES CAN BE PERFORMED ON THE VEHICLE, REFINING THE WEAPON SYSTEM CONCEPT. GREAT COST SAVINGS ARE ENJOYED BY CUTTING DOWN ITERATIVE PROTOTYPING OF REAL HARDWARE. A MAJOR PROBLEM WITH THIS METHODOLOGY, HOWEVER, IS THAT THE DESIGNER OF THESE WEAPON SYSTEMS HAS NO TOOL TO RAPIDLY CREATE THE SIMULATORS HIMSELF. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS NEED TO BE BROUGHT IN TO THE LOOP, WASTING TIME AND MONEY. IF THE DESIGNER COULD GENERATE THESE SIMULATORS UNASSISTED, THE TIME BETWEEN CONCEPT ITERATIONS WOULD PLUMMET, AS WOULD THE COST. MAK PROPOSES USING OBJECT ORIENTED DESIGN PARADIGMS, STANDARDIZED SOFTWARE INTERFACES, RECONFIGURABLE I/O OBJECTS, AND RECONFIGURABLE CONTROLS TO PROVIDE A WEAPON DESIGNER WITH A WEAPON GENERATION TOOL (WGT) WHICH WOULD ALLOW HIM TO CREATE HIS OWN SIMULATORS FROM A LIBRARY OF PARTS. THIS TOOL WOULD DYNAMICALLY LINK SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE MODULES AT THE REQUEST OF THE DESIGNER, THROUGH AN EASY TO USE GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE. THE WGT WILL ACCELERATE THE PROCESS OF WEAPON SYSTEM REFINEMENT, MULTIPLYING THE POWER OF THE SIMNET SIMULATE-BEFORE-YOU-BUILD PROCUREMENT METHODOLOGY. THE WEAPON DESIGNER WILL HAVE AN AS-OF-YET UNAVAILABLE FREEDOM TO EXPLORE NEW AREAS IN COMBAT SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT. THE WGT CAN BE USED BY COMMERCIAL VEHICLE MANUFACTURERS FOR TRADEOFF STUDIES IN SIMULATION, SIMILAR TO THE MILITARY WEAPONS DESIGNER.