As part of this project, KBSI is developing the Extensible
Scenario Management Language (ESML), an XML-based scenario definition and execution language that can support the comprehensive management of scenarios and their executions at different levels of abstraction.  Following the ESML development, KBSI will next develop a component-based Scenario Model Interoperability Toolkit (SMIT) that supports the translation of scenario definitions and models from one format to another using ESML as the interlingua.  Model translation will itself be powered by an innovative ontology-driven translator code generator approach that will ensure semantic interoperability. In addition, the methodological changes required by instructors, students, and tactical and strategic military analysts to develop, modify, and manage scenarios will be elaborately documented as part of the SMIT project.

Applications

The results of the SMIT effort will be invaluable to instructors, students, and tactical and strategic military analysts.  ESML and SMIT will primarily be designed with (a) syntactic and semantic interoperability of simulation models and (b) scenario lifecycle management in mind.  ESML and SMIT will ensure not only huge savings in cost and time but will also ensure correctness.  This will guarantee model reuse across a wide range of simulation applications as well at various levels of abstraction.  ESML and SMIT can be applied to any future simulators used for distributed simulation exercises by organizations such as the Joint Operations Concepts (JOpsC) and Joint National Training Capability (JNTC) or the Navy Common Training Environment (NCTE) exercises.

The developed technologies will have huge commercial potential in any training environment that uses modeling and simulation to plan training scenarios.  This includes first responder training systems in emergency management, disaster recovery, and homeland security; police; border patrol; drug interdiction, etc.  In addition, there is also large market potential in the mission-critical nerve centers of defense and government facilities, and in mission critical space, air-traffic control, and medical situations in which scenario-based systems are used for training.