Development of a Suite of HLA Transition Products

ELA has been designated as the standard technical architecture for all DoD simulations. All DoD simulation systems must be HLA compliant by 1998 or program. funding will be cut, and no systems will be allowed to play after 1999 if they are not HLA compliant. It is imperative that the Army's legacy systems be upgraded to HLA compliance in as rapid and cost-effective way as possible. MAK developed VR-Link, the world's most widely used DIS interface product, from an SBIR very similar to this one, awarded six years ago. In that time VR-Link has enabled over 400 organizations worldwide to become DIS compliant, more than all other DIS development efforts combined and about 70% of the worldwide market. MAK has also invested considerable resources into VR-Link 3.0, the HLA version of VR-Link, which is about to be offered for commercial sale. With this unparalleled track record, and immense head-start, MAK proposes the development of a suite of transition products for legacy Army systems, including a protocol converter hardware/software product based on VR-Link 3.0, VR-Link 3.0 itself, and a detailed Transition Your Legacy System to HLA n products would enable the transition of almost all of the Army's legacy simulations that they would reasonably care to upgrade to HLA compliance. Early in Phase II, the products would be commercialized and sold on MAK's product list, leaving the remainder of the Phase II budget for performing several upgrades, and possibly developing a high-performance RTI for select Army programs which might require it (i.e. - JSIMS). BENEFITS: For Phase I, MAK will produce a prototype DIS to HLA translator which will be productized and commercially sold in Phase II. The draft l be reviewed and completed in Phase II, and distributed freely to the DoD. This firm foundation will permit several transitions to be accomplished in Phase II, as well as providing a vital set of commercial products which the Army can use to transition all of its candidate DIS systems to HLA.