FREE ESSAY ON COMPUTER SIMULATION

COMPUTER SIMULATION

Computer Simulation WARSIM 2000 is simulation software, used by the armed forces.
Extensive, thorough, and tiring work has
been done on thgis program. It covers almost all aspects and situations required for
realistic, meticulous and a complete simulation.
Information Technology has lead to the advancement of the tools required to build the
simulator. Information Technolgy's
guideleines and technolgy have reinforced this creative simulator General Description of
Operational Capability. WARSIM 2000
will increase the effectiveness of commander and battle staff training by dramatically
increasing the realism and the scope of the
available training environment. In conjunction with other services' simulations, WARSIM
2000 will provide a complete operational
environment with scenarios drawn from the entire operational continuum to support Army,
joint and coalition force training
distributed across the globe. a. The WARSIM 2000 simulation system will use a
computer-based simulation and associated
hardware to support the training of unit commanders and their battle staffs from
battalion through theater-level as well as to
support training events in educational institutions. Designed and built using modern
computer technology, modern software
engineering techniques, and validated algorithms and databases, it will allow units
world-wide to train using their organizational
equipment. A key feature of the system will be its use of technology to minimize the
total Army's overhead associated with
supporting training. The system will be designed to meet emerging Distributed Interactive
Simulation (DIS) standards and
protocols to facilitate linkages with DIS compliant simulators and live training events.
b. The WARSIM 2000 simulation system
will consist of, or use, several components: (1) Computer-based battle simulation models
that portray the joint and combined
environment needed to support Army training events. (2) Software modules for linking
WARSIM 2000 to other simulation models
to expand the training environment for joint force training exercises. (3) Databases. (4)
Computer systems to run the simulation
models and support the databases. (5) Technical control systems/workstations for use by
personnel in an exercise support function
e.g., simulation controllers, analysts, and opposing/ surrounding forces role players.
(6) Flexible and responsive terrestrial/satellite
communications gateways and media for transmitting voice, data, facsimile, and video
between different elements at remote
locations involved in supporting a training exercise. c. WARSIM 2000 will meet the
Mission Need Statement's (MNS's)
requirement for providing a training environment that will allow unit commanders and
battle staffs to focus their warfighters and
systems in countering threats across the operational continuum. WARSIM 2000 must provide
an environment that presents
problems to stress and stimulate commanders and their battle staff to assess the
situation, determine courses of action, and plan
and issue new orders in a timely manner, all while using their organizational equipment
and procedures. d. Logistical support for
WARSIM 2000 will be based on a government- owned contractor-supported system. The
government will own necessary
hardware, have all proprietary rights to the developmental hardware and software
components, and full license rights to the
non-developmental software components of WARSIM 2000. Contracted logistical support will
provide for the maintenance of
government-owned computer hardware at all times. e. The acquisition and development
strategy for WARSIM 2000 must abide
by several constraints. (1) The WARSIM 2000 acquisition must build upon the successful
infrastructure of current simulations so
that the training community (Army and international) can train in an evolutionary
progressive yet consistent manner. The Army
has invested significant resources into developing its training simulation systems,
linking them with other service simulations via the
Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol confederation, and proliferating them throughout the
Army and the international community.
While these systems have shortcomings that must be fixed, they provide a training
environment and representations of combat that
have been accepted by the training community world-wide. The WARSIM 2000 acquisition must
allow the confederation of
simulations structure to evolve in a manner that allows current users (Army and
international) to maintain access to the
confederation without having to make a substantial near-term investment in resources. (2)
Meeting the WARSIM 2000
requirements will demand significant technological innovations. However, there are many
existing and developing systems that
could and should be part of the overall solution. The acquisition strategy must ensure
that developers optimize the investment of
each service in existing systems (instead of starting from a blank sheet of paper) and
insert echnology into the training
environment in a way that improves training. (3) Fielding of new capabilities, whether
they be functional representations or
technological enhancements, must be either practically transparent to the user or be
accompanied by training so the user can
understand and receive the benefit of the new capabilities. (4 The acquisition strategy
must allow for regular user involvement in
the development process. User evaluations and requirements must serve as a primary source
for determining changes to the
system. 2. Threat. Rather than counter a specific threat, WARSIM will provide a training
environment capable of representing
threats from across the operational continuum. 3. Shortcomings of Existing Systems.
Current simulations were designed for
training corps and division staffs on command and control techniques for Army operations
in mid-intensity combat. Current
software is bound to proprietary operating systems and hardware. The software design,
especially the underlying representation of
terrain, precludes representing the detailed functionality required for resolving the
high resolution interactions needed to train
commanders and battle staffs at levels from battalion to operational level commanders in
joint scenarios for war and operations
other than war. 4. Capabilities Required. WARSIM 2000 will support commander and battle
staff training from battalion up to
theater level. While the major simulation models of WARSIM 2000 will run on computers
housed in fixed regional facilities,
transportable Simulation Support Modules (SSMs) will provide support functions under the
control of a senior controller at
locations near the training unit. Users of the simulation will train under the guidance
of a senior trainer, usually the unit's
commander, the next higher level commander, or an instructor at institutions. WARSIM will
provide users a complete training
environment consisting of simulations, data, support functions and communications. a.
System Performance. The following
description of requirements for the WARSIM 2000 training environment addresses in turn
each of the functional components
described in paragraph 1.b. (1) The Simulation. WARSIM 2000's simulation component must
have the following functional
characteristics. (a) General Attributes. (i) Size. The model must be large enough to
support a multi- echelon corps or theater
exercise. The model must also be able to link to other copies of itself to support larger
exercises. The simulation must also be able
to support multiple, concurrent, smaller training exercises, such as several battalion
headquarters training independently. (ii)
Weather. The simulation must accurately portray the impact that weather elements have on
operations (space, air, and ground).
At a minimum, the simulation must account for the following weather elements: cloud
amount and height, visibility, restrictions to
visibility (e.g. precipitation, fog, smoke, dust and sand), precipitation accumulation,
surface wind direction and speed, temperature,
relative humidity, altimeter setting, and solar and lunar light data. These weather
elements must be allowed to range from tropical
to arctic regions, to vary over the geographic area of interest, and to change as often
as hourly. In addition, wind direction and
speed and temperature in a vertical profile up to 70,000 feet must be allowed to impact
Nuclear Biological and Chemical NBC)
weapons with changes incorporated at least twice per day. (iii) Terrain. The simulation
must provide a level of resolution of terrain
such that tactical considerations of terrain analysis and the dynamic effects of man-made
or natural occurrences (e.g. bomb
craters, minefields, battle damage on roads, the obstacle effect of rivers, hydrography,
and weather) as considered during
Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) will affect the battle. The minimum
acceptable tactical considerations include the
following areas: the impact of line-of-sight (to include sonar and electromagnetic
spectrum considerations of concealment, thermal,
optical and radar visibility, and signal site emplacement) between potential interactors
whether they be sensors or weapon systems,
air, ship, or ground mounted; the ability of terrain to support the movement of
personnel, vehicles and units over time, and the
accurate portrayal of the location of natural and man-made obstacles. The outcomes of the
simulated events must be sensitive to
changes in the weather (described above in paragraph 4.a.(1)(a)(ii)) as it affects
terrain. (iv) Time. The simulation must be
capable of running faster than real time to a pre-defined point in time or an event,
while requiring minimal input, and providing
summarized output. Users must be able to age the simulation to accommodate a training
scenario that describes actions in the
midst of a campaign. The senior controller must be able to have the simulation start,
stop/interrupt, rollback to any specified point
in scenario, restart from a given point or the initial conditions and conduct concurrent
replay. The senior controller must have the
capability to change any attributes of the simulated entities or the game characteristics
at any time. (b) Conditions and Constraints.
(i) Scenarios. The goal is for the simulation to portray events that could arise from
scenarios based on any point in the operational
continuum. At a minimum, requirements are for scenarios for war in Europe, Southwest
Asia, Southeast Asia and Korea and for
operations other than war in these locations as well as Central and South America and
Africa. (ii) Fidelity. The simulation must
allow commanders and battle staffs to do their tasks under the conditions and standards
outlined in the Army Training and
Evaluation Program Mission Training Plans (MTPs) for command groups and staff referenced
in Appendix 1 to Annex A. (iii)
Level of Detail. The simulation must be able to portray a level of detail that captures
the effects of individual entities on the battle,
e.g., single weapon platform, emitter, and sensor systems. Entities that operate near
each other as cohesive units can be portrayed
in aggregated units from team to battalion that represent the normal mode of employment.
Individual, low-density, entities that
operate in a geographically dispersed mode must be portrayed as they are employed, e.g.,
signal nodes, radars, jammers, missile
and rocket systems, engineer obstacle systems, and individual surveillance and laser
designation systems. All systems will be
portrayed using performance data appropriate to the level of classification of the
exercise. (iv) Reports. The simulation must
provide feedback to the training unit by sending reports of simulated events. These
reports must be formatted in a doctrinally
correct fashion and occur in a time-appropriate banner. The reports must not reveal all
of ground truth but reflect that information
that the simulated unit would reasonably know given its status, time removed from the
reported incident, and deployed intelligence
assets. (v) Human Factors. The simulation must portray the effects of operations on the
human condition as it relates to combat
effectiveness. At a minimum, the simulation must consider unit morale and cohesion, time
subject to hostile actions, availability of
religious support, unit attrition rate over time, weather, and operational tempo. (vi)
Simulated Mistakes. The simulation must cause
simulated entities to make mistakes based on a predetermined level of training and a
variable combat effectiveness determined
by human factors . The mistakes should be of two types: mistakes in actions taken and
mistakes in actions reported. Mistakes in
actions taken fall along the lines of getting lost e.g., arriving at or attacking the
wrong location, delivering the improper quantities of
supplies, or delivering the wrong supplies. These types of mistakes will change the
ground truth of the simulation. Along with
reports that are accurate but incomplete, other reports will contain information that is
different from ground truth. These mistakes
in reporting will occur when a simulated unit makes a report to the training unit that
conflicts with ground truth in the simulation.
These mistaken reports will not change ground truth. The simulation must have the ability
to provide the correct information if
challenged for confirmation. The level of training and combat effectiveness must change
over exercise time with a corresponding
change in the number of mistakes. The senior trainer must have the capability to cause a
simulated unit to make specific mistakes
during the exercise. The senior trainer must be able to easily adjust the severity and
frequency of simulated mistakes during an
exercise to include being able to set the level to zero, in effect turning off the
mistakes. The senior trainer and the After Action
Review systems must have access to both ground truth and mistakes data. (vii) Surrounding
Units. Training units, to include
combat, combat support, and combat service support units that support maneuver brigades,
must be able to interact with the
simulation without the presence of any other units. This will require the simulation to
emulate forward, flank and rear units,
supported and supporting units, as well as the next higher and lower echelon units, that
would normally exist on the battlefield, but
are not present for the particular training event. The simulation must be able to portray
dynamic scenario and event dependent
intelligence and reports concerning the activities of these units as well as their
requests for information and resources from the
training units. (viii) Multi-Level Input/Output. The simulation must be able to
accommodate an exercise where different levels
(division, igade, battalion) are interacting with the simulation. Each level must be able
to train using the simulation by issuing only its
normal orders and instructions to the simulation while receiving only its normal reports
and data from all sources. The simulation
must receive and present its information in the format and level of detail appropriate to
the training unit. The simulation-provided
information must not always be 100 percent accurate. The information should at times
contain errors that one could expect to
obtain in a realistic setting. Bibliography: "WARSIM 2000, The Few, The Proud, The... hey
they're not there!" Article #45, SIRS
Encyclpaedias, Applied Science, 1994.