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Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft
(photo courtesy of Boeing Integrated
Defense Systems) |
DATA AND KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION, ENGINEERING, AND MANAGEMENT
The
Information Sciences Division (ISD) has been on the forefront of
technology for capturing, structuring, and managing information about
the military domain since the early 1990s. ISD’s data and knowledge
engineering solutions support the modeling and simulation (M&S)
community by providing a structured way of representing military domain
knowledge such that it can be expressed and understood by warfighters
and used for systems implementation by software and simulation
engineers. Using these techniques and tools to integrate data from
numerous heterogeneous sources, we construct representations of the
domain that support the design of valid and credible models and
simulations for use in areas that include research, development, test,
and engineering (RDT&E); acquisition; and training. In all of these
areas, M&S is a proven approach for reduction of cost and risk, and
ISD’s data and knowledge engineering techniques ensure that M&S
development has a sound basis and uses trusted, appropriate data.
ISD’s techniques utilize structured modeling languages for information
and processes as an integration point to construct integrated databases and
define information exchange specifications. These technologies have
been applied to multiple domains and have been used in data integration
efforts that involve thousands of data elements supporting dozens of
information sources and models and simulations. Our current research
thrusts include:
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C4I and Simulation Integration
ISD
is a developer of the US Army’s Command, Control, Communication,
Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) and Simulation Initialization System
(ACSIS). ISD staff members designed a unified data repository and
toolset that takes data from authoritative DoD sources and allows
users to build custom data loads for C4I and simulation systems. Before
ACSIS, the preparation of consistent C4I data loads across multiple
systems took months. Since these C4I systems are commonly used with
simulations to conduct training and testing, additional time and manual
translation was needed to ensure that the C4I systems and simulations
were operating with a common set of data. ISD staff, working with the
Army C4I community, has shown that these data loads can now be built in
a matter of days, and sometimes hours. We are currently working with
the Joint community to extend these capabilities. |
ACSIS: Supporting Operations in Iraq
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 ACSIS System Architecture
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Integration of Technologies for Mission Rehearsal
Military mission rehearsal exercises conducted prior to deployment or
en route to a theater of operation require a capability to rapidly
generate scenarios as well as initialize C4I and simulation systems
with a common set of authoritative data. Key elements of this
process include the battle management information contained in tactical
operations plans, operations orders, and other battle management
products. The Army’s Battle Management Language (BML) initiative
is intended to provide a standard, unambiguous, and automated means to
exchange individual data elements related to the “5Ws” (Who, What,
When, Where, and Why) of battle management.
ISD
has been a core contributor to the integration of ACSIS and BML technologies in order to further reduce C4I database preparation time
and costs as well as to reduce data errors and inconsistencies.
This integration project leverages these two
technologies and
standards to enable the rapid and accurate initialization of both C4I
systems and federations of simulations with mission-specific or
scenario-specific data from a common data set before the start of an
exercise or testing event.
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Modeling and Simulation for Defense Acquisition
ISD
was involved in two major DoD aircraft acquisition programs—the Joint
Strike Fighter and the Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA)—both of
which rely heavily on M&S to perform analysis and trade-off studies
during the design and development of the aircraft. ISD has been a
leader in data engineering activities to support both of these
programs, working closely with the government and contractor teams to
define a data management strategy that will lead to verifiable and
validated M&S use. For the MMA programs, we are constructing the
integrated data environment that will initially manage all data used
for government M&S activities.
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MMA Modeling and Simulation
Integrated Data Environment |
Simulation Interoperability Standards
Researchers
in ISD are key participants in the development of M&S standards. We
were involved in the initial Institute for Electronic and Electrical
Engineers (IEEE) High Level Architecture (HLA) for M&S as well as
the Federation Development and Execution Process (FEDEP) for HLA. An
area of significant current emphasis has been related to DoD
information exchange standards, including discovery metadata
specification, the Military Scenario Definition Language, and the Joint
Command, Control, and Consultation Information Exchange Data Model, a
NATO standard which has now been adopted by the U.S. Army and the
Marine Corps. Additionally, ISD is involved in the data
discovery, data translation, and data exchange standards associated
with DoD Web Services Oriented Architectures.
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Formalized Knowledge Specifications
ISD
personnel are engaged in establishing formal specifications for
capturing domain knowledge. These specifications of domain knowledge
provide consistent views for the domain expert and the implementer of
information systems. Our approach will ensure that the resulting
knowledge specifications are directly executable, in addition to
providing traditional static representations, so that they can most
effectively be exercised, examined, and validated by the subject matter
experts.
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For further information regarding the Data and Knowledge Acquisition, Engineering, and Management program, please contact:
Director-SISL@arlut.utexas.edu
Click here for print-friendly copy |
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