SISO Overview

1
SISO Overview

• Rick SeveringhausChair, SISO Executive Committee

June 2007
1
2
SISO Mission Statement
To provide an open forum that promotes the
interoperability and reuse of models and
simulations through the exchange of ideas, the
examination of technologies, and the development
of standards.
3
A Brief History of SISO

• 1989 - Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS)
  Workshops began, to generate open standards for
  Army Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (CCTT)
  procurement
• 1993, 1995, 1998 - DIS Standards (IEEE 1278)
  approved
• 1996/7 - DIS Workshops disbanded, SISO
  incorporated as 501(c)(3) in 1996 semi-annual
  Workshops (SIWs) continue
• 1999 - First SISO standard (RPR FOM) promulgated
• 2000 - SISO develops HLA standards (IEEE 1516)
• - Annual SISO European Workshops
  begin
• 2003 - IEEE Computer Society recognizes SISO as
  sponsor committee
• 2005 - NATO Modeling Simulation Group (NMSG)
  recognizes SISO

4
SISOs origins

• DoD created DMSO and Service MS offices to
  encourage MS interoperability and software reuse
• SISO supports these efforts via a Cooperative
  Agreement

5
US/SISO Cooperative Agreement

• Grants (with active government participation)
  authorized under 10 U.S.C. 2358
• MS CO provides technical oversight
  NAVAIR/NAVSEA provides contractual management
• SISO provides self-supporting Workshops and
  in-kind technical expertise
• Government provides funds for infrastructure
  support and encourages agency participation
• Three-year agreements have been in place since
  1997

6
SISO Organization
7
SISO Metrics

• Non-profit, chartered in U.S. as 501(c)(3), 1996.
  
• Sponsors about 2 dozen multi-national group
  from industry, government and academia
• Membership gt1000. 5000 folks monitor our
  public discussion groups on the Web
• Activities 3 SIWs and 1 BRIMS per year. Two
  SIWs in US, one in Europe. Yearly attendance
  1200 to 1600
• Core volunteer group of about 120 to 150 people
  with years of MS experience, some going back to
  earliest days of the Internet
• Standards 4 SISO standards and 4 SISO-sponsored
  standards. 10 PDGs, 4 PSGs, 9 SGs, 3 SSGs
• Our senior committees 30 people from 5
  countries (Canada, France, Sweden, UK, US and
  multiple government agencies incl. US MS CO,
  JFCOM NATO)
• 5 User Forums, 11 Specialty Area Forums

8
Why SISO?

• Large users (e.g., U.S. DoD, NATO) use MS for
  analysis, RD, TE, training, and other purposes.
• Models and simulations are too frequently
• Expensive (often re-written, rarely reused)
• Stove-piped (often duplicated across Services,
  but in too many cases incompatible)
• Complex (often understood only by original
  developers)
• Misused (often unknowingly, for purposes beyond
  their validity)
• MS standards, properly implemented, can reduce
  resource allocations and support more efficient
  use of MS tools and processes

9
What is SISOs Role?

• Be the Open Community Forum to
• Identify standards that enable interoperability
  and reuse
• Develop, review, accredit, and archive standards
• Get community buy-in, grass-roots support for,
  and evangelize standards
• Be the nexus for related and complementary
  simulation products
• Provide a stable, open interface for COTS product
  vendors to trust develop MS standards
• Collect and distribute community Feedback to and
  from industry, academia, and government

10
SISO Activities/Outreach in 2006/7

• Standards Development effort and Workshops
• Participation in/Outreach to other
  organizations/activities
• SimSummit
• First two Annual Congressional MS Leadership
  Summit
• Military Modeling and Simulation Symposium (at
  Spring SIW)
• The Society For Modeling And Simulation In Sweden
  (MoSiS)
• INCITS InterNational Committee for Information
  Technology Standards
• NATO Modeling Simulation Group
• Medicine Meets Virtual Reality

11
SISO and SISO Sponsored Standards
12
SISO Reference Products
Published since 2005 Fall SIW
Common Image Generator Interface(CIGI) Standing
Study Group Annual Report
SISO-REF-012-2005
Simulation Reference Markup Language(SRML) Study
Group Final Report
SISO-REF-013-2005
Extensible MS Framework Profile(XMSF) Study
Group Final Report
SISO-REF-014-2005
Enumeration and Bit Encoded Values for use with
Protocols for DIS Applications
SISO-REF-010-2006
Military Scenario Definition Language(MSDL)
Study Group Final Report
SISO-REF-015-2006
Coalition-Battle Management Language(C-BML)
Study Group Final Report 
SISO-REF-016-2006
SISO-REF-020-2007 DIS Plain and Simple
Guide
13
SISO Product Development Groups

• Coalition Battle Management Language (C-BML)
  Evaluation of standardization of language for
  interface of C2I systems to simulation systems
• Core Manufacturing Simulation Data (CMSD) Data
  interface specification for efficient exchange of
  manufacturing life cycle data in a simulation
  environment
• COTS Simulation Package Interoperability (CSPI)
  Interface specification for COTS discrete event
  simulation packages (CSPs)
• Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS)
  Revision of IEEE 1278 standards
• High Level Architecture (HLA) Evolved Revision
  of IEEE 1516 standards

14
SISO Product Development Groups

• Link 11 Simulation Develop standard for
  simulating Link 11 via DIS and HLA
• Military Scenario Definition Language (MSDL)
  Evaluation of standardization of language for
  initialization of military simulations
• Real-time Platform Reference (RPR) FOM Standard
  for mapping DIS-based attributes and interactions
  into an HLA-compliant object model
• Simulation Reference Markup Language (SRML)
  Markup language for representing behavior in XML,
  enabling XML documents to execute on the web or
  other distributed environments
• VVA Overlay to FEDEP Overlay to Federation
  Development and Execution Process to apply VVA
  processes

15
SISO Product Support Groups

• Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS)
  Capture problem statements and change requests
  for IEEE 1278 standards
• Environmental Data Representation Standards
  (EDRS) Support the SEDRIS family of Standards
• Participate with ISO/IEC JTC-1 SC-24 and the
  SEDRIS Organization in the post-standardization
  support and maintenance of the following ISO/IEC
  SEDRIS Standards
• 18023-1, SEDRIS Part 1 Functional
  Specification
• 18023-2, SEDRIS Part 2 Abstract Transmittal
  Format
• 18023-3, SEDRIS Part 3 Transmittal Format
  Binary Encoding
• 18024-4, SEDRIS Language Bindings Part 4 C
• 18025, Environmental Data Coding Specification
  (EDCS)
• 18026, Spatial Reference Model (SRM)
• 18041-4, EDCS Language Bindings Part 4 C
• 18042-4, SRM Language Bindings Part 4 C

16
SISO Product Support Groups(contd)

• Base Object Model (BOM) Specification for Base
  Object Models to facilitate interoperability,
  reusability and composability
• Tactical Data Link Support the Link 16
  Simulation standard via DIS and HLA

17
SISO Study Groups

• Discrete-Event Systems Specification (DEVS)
  Study the possibility of developing standards for
  a computer processable representation of discrete
  event systems specification
• Generic Methodology for VVA for the Modeling
  Simulation Domain (GM VV)Study a path to the
  creation of an internationally accepted VVA
  standard
• HLA Performance Recommended Practice (HPRP)
  Conduct an investigation on the best practices
  for maximizing High Level Architecture (HLA)
  performance
• Mode 5/S IFF Evaluation of potential approaches
  to simulation of Mode 5/S within DIS and HLA
• SCORM-Sim SG Integration of simulation-based
  learning experiences with SCORM (Shareable
  Content Object Reference Model) environments
• Simulation Conceptual Modeling (SCM) Conducting
  a preliminary investigation on the use of
  conceptual modeling in MS
• Transfer of Control (TC) Evaluation of potential
  approaches to revisions of DIS Transfer of
  Control and HLA Ownership Transfer

18
SISO Standing Study Groups
SISO Study Groups ( contd)

• Live, Virtual, Constructive Architecture
  Interoperability (LVC) will assess current and
  future technical and programmatic implications
  and requirements of the MS community for LVC
  architectures and interoperability between them.
• Message Passing for Simulation-based
  Collaborative Engineering Design (Message-Sim)
  created and sponsored by the SPACE Forum.
  Addresses HLA, DIS TENA and "the emergence of
  the Internet and maturation of XML raises the
  possibility of new approaches

• Australian (AUS) Advocate group for SISO
  controlled simulation standards promotion,
  education. Formal relationship in place between
  SISO and SIAA
• Common Image Generator Interface (CIGI) Mature
  interface in ground and maritime environments
• Economics of MS (ECON) Oversight by EXCOM

19
SISO Support Model

• Simulation Interoperability Workshops (SIWs) are
  designedto be self-supporting through
  registration fees
• SISO contracts with IEEE Conference Management
  Servicesfor site contract negotiation, on-line
  registration, and accounting
• Standards development infrastructure is supported
  by government and corporate sponsors
• SISO contracts with UCF/IST for web/email
  services, conference paper management, balloting
  and comment resolution databases
• SISO sponsors (government and corporate) expected
  to
• Provide technical experts to serve on committees
• Support Workshops by sending knowledgeable users
  developers
• Support the development infrastructure through
  contributions

20
Reaching the Interoperability Plateau

• Vital if the MS world is to leverage earlier
  work. Strong standards are a must, and also a
  forum in which to develop them. SISO exists to
  provide such a Forum. Without one, we are doomed
  to re-invent the wheel - and never mature past
  our infantile stage.
• Everything SISO has done to date addresses less
  than 5 of the necessary solution space.
• SISO and Standards development are the enemies of
  the Forces of the Stovepipe!

21
Challenges
vs.
Systems of Systems Interoperability
Stovepipe developments
- architectures/frameworks
- communications - databases - networks
- intellectual property protection -
interfaces - ontologies taxonomies
Key issue Finding the right mix of standards