Advanced Distributed Simulations as Virtual Environments in Simulation Based Design

The increasing complexity and sheer magnitude of advanced commercial and military system has exceeded the capacity of system design teams to efficiently design these complex system using existing system design methodologies and tools. Simulation Based Design is a system design approach centered upon the creation of virtual system prototypes and virtual environments within an integrated system design capture and simulation framework. Virtual prototypes of candidate system designs are constructed based upon design information captured in multiple domains. These virtual prototypes are then examined through simulation in operational scenarios where the system functions in a virtual environment. There exists a strong correlation between the operational scenarios and virtual environments needed in SBD and the existing Virtual Battlefield constructed using the Advanced Distributed Simulation (ADS) Technology. This Phase I SBIR project will: (1) leverage ongoing research to refine a design capture and simulation methodology for representing and analyzing complex real-time system designs, (2) leverage ADS technology in providing extended virtual environments and, (3) demonstrate key aspects of an advanced CASE tool prototype supporting this methodology. The prototype CASE tool will be created to test critical items in the Simulation Based Design approach and to demonstrate the feasibility of the full-scale tool development under Phase II.