Engineering Principles of Combat Modeling and Distributed Simulation

This book is divided into two main sections: Foundations and Advanced Topics. The Foundations section has been entirely written by Andreas Tolk in an effort to ensure a consistent and comprehensive overview of relevant topics and recommended practices. The book begins with an introduction, which addresses general principles, and key historical notes, methods, and terms are introduced and defined. Readers are provided with a framework to use to cope with the multiple facets that make up engineering principles of combat modeling and distributed simulation. The book moves on to discuss questions surrounding combat modeling and addresses the conceptualization and model development for the military and defense domain. Modeling and simulation, in general, differentiates between conceptualization and model development (modeling) and implementation and distributed execution (simulation). A discussion of distributed simulation follows. This portion of the book deals with implementation and execution challenges, discusses established protocols, and also introduces current and emerging standards. The second section of the book, Advanced Topics, highlights new and current developments, and the chapters were written by recognized experts in the field. Modeling traditional operations of military forces is the main focus, and the chapters review current developments in the research and development domains. Advanced topical coverage includes: experimentation guidelines; agent-directed simulation; new challenges in human, social, cultural, and behavioral modeling; system engineering principles; the integration of combat simulations services into the operational environment; and serious games, virtual worlds, and interactive digital worlds.

Andreas Tolk, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering at Old Dominion University. He supported the development of the discipline of modeling and simulation with his publications for a variety of modeling and simulation conferences as well as his contributions to various NATO research activities in the domains of combat modeling, command and control, and studies and analysis.