Title

Limitations Of Micro And Macro Solutions To The Simulation Interoperability Challenge: An Ease Case Study

Keywords

Distributed modeling and simulation; Interoperability; Simulation architecture; Systems engineering

Abstract

The interoperability challenge of integrating different networks, databases, standards, and interfaces results in U.S. Army organizations repeatedly spending time and money to create and implement irreproducible LVC integrating architectures to accomplish similar tasks. Although the U.S. Army has made strides in improving interoperability, it has struggled with this challenge since the early 1990s. These improvements have been inadequate due to growing technical complexities of interoperating legacy systems with emergent systems arising from advances in technology and that suit user ever changing needs. To better understand the impact of the continued evolution of simulations, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, has been mapped with the Levels of Conceptual Interoperability Model (LCIM). A key similarity to both the LCIM and the Hierarchy of Needs model is that each level increases with complexity and the proceeding lower level must first be achieved prior to reaching the next. Understanding the continuum of complexity of interoperability, as requirements or needs, helps to determine why the previous funding and technical efforts have been inadequate in mitigating the interoperability challenges within U.S. Army simulations. As the U.S. Army's simulation programs continue to evolve while the military and contractor personnel turnover rate remains near constant, a method of capturing and passing on the tacit knowledge from one personnel staffing life cycle to the next must be developed in order to economically and quickly reproduce complex simulation events. A potential solution to this challenge is the Executable Architecture Systems Engineering (EASE) research project managed by the U.S. Army's Simulation and Training Technology Center in the Army Research Laboratory within the Research, Development and Engineering Command. The EASE project uses five unique components to provide an easy to use interface to allow M&S users an improved way to configure and execute M&S events while storing the technical details. However, the main drawbacks to EASE is that it is still in the prototype stage and its potential has not been fully tested and evaluated as a simulation tool within the community of practice. In order to determine if EASE has the potential to reduce the micro as well as macro interoperability, an EASE experiment was conducted. Eleven participants representing ten different organizations across the three M&S Domains were selected to test EASE using a modified Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) approach developed by Davis [1] and validated by Davis, Bagozzi, and Warshaw in 1989 [2], Indexes were created from the participants' responses to include both the quality of participants and research questions. The Cronbach Alpha Test for reliability was used to test the reliability of the adapted TAM. The Wilcoxon Signed Ranked test provided the statistical analysis that formed the basis of the research; to determine if the EASE project has the potential to help mitigate the interoperability challenges in the U.S. Army's M&S domains.

Publication Date

5-15-2013

Publication Title

Spring Simulation Interoperability Workshop 2013, SIW 2013

Number of Pages

351-361

Document Type

Article; Proceedings Paper

Personal Identifier

scopus

Socpus ID

84877618974 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84877618974

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