Research and Development towards Application of MSDL and C-BML in The Netherlands; 2007BU2-MS

The Military Scenario Definition Language (MSDL) and Coalition Battle Management Language (C-BML) have been proposed as new SISO standards to improve interoperability and achieve coherent behavior between C4I and simulation systems. The authors participate in a research program sponsored by the Joint Dutch Armed Forces, which studies multi-functional use of simulation software. Multi-functional use must ensure that simulations can be used in all phases of the system life-cycle e.g. in training, for operational analyses or in the acquisition phase of new weapon systems. One of our goals in this research program is to bring Modeling & Simulation to the battlefield by focusing on C4I and simulation interoperability through the use of C-BML. This paper presents the work that is being performed by TNO Defence, Security and Safety towards a generic architecture in which C4I, Simulations and Agents can interoperate by using MSDL and C-BML. The envisioned architecture can be used both in training mode as well as during operations (e.g. mission rehearsal or decision support) and is extendible for future changes. In order to use MSDL and C-BML successfully, it is beneficial to have a common representation of military operations. The current representations used to describe military operations in the C4I world contain mismatches with the approach used in simulations and it can be argued that they are both incomplete. The authors believe a 'unified' MSDL and C-BML should contain the best of both worlds, which will be very valuable in creating a next generation of C4I and simulation components that are suitable for multi-functional use. The paper discusses the generic architecture that will implement our vision of an integrated solution for C4I and simulation interoperability and presents a number of ongoing experiments that are performed to investigate the proposed architectures. This work is partly carried out within the context of the NATO Modeling and Simulation Group MSG-048.