Enhancing Simulation Composability and Reuse with Modular FOMs

Simulation composability and reuse have long represented the “Holy Grail” of distributed simulation. The ability to develop simulation components in a way that enables them to be reused as well as the ability to pull together independently developed simulation components have long promised flexibility and cost savings for Department of Defense simulations.

While the High Level Architecture (HLA) has provided an interoperability standard enabling simulation components to work together, seamless simulation component reuse and composability remain elusive goals. A number of challenges to composability have been identified, and one of the major challenges has always been the data exchange model. Davis [1] and Henninger [2] both address improving composability, and both identify data exchange models as an issue. The Live Virtual Constructive Architecture Roadmap (LVCAR) study [2] recommended standardized common object model components as the highest priority investment for the Department of Defense (DoD) simulation roadmap. Efforts such as the Realtime Platform Reference (RPR) and Space Federation Object Model (FOM) seek to standardize a FOM for a particular community. The Medical Modeling and Simulation (MMS) FOM is expected to do the same for the Medical modeling and simulation community. Modular FOMs are a critical component to improve simulation composability and reuse.

This paper addresses how the Joint Evacuation and Transport Simulation (JETS) system architecture is developing a suite of MMS FOM modules, providing the ability to more easily combine simulation components in various configurations or scale to meet current and future medical training needs.

Authors: Dannie Cutts, Damon Curry
Publication: Proceedings of 2020 Winter Simulation Innovation Workshop, 2020-SIW-013, Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization, February 202

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