Addressing complexity using distributed simulation: a case study in spaceport modeling

As the size, complexity, and functionality of systems to model and simulate continue to increase, benefits such as interoperability and reusability enabled by distributed discrete event simulation are of interest, especially for distributed manufacturing and enterprise engineering. The high level architecture (HLA), a standard distributed simulation environment, is one technology that enables the interconnection of distributed model components. Many applications in industry are developed by a variety of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) simulation tools, which require some form of gateway to integrate the models into the HLA component-based simulation. This paper summarizes a study conducted to integrate COTS simulation models using gateway tools and visualization of the system states running as part of other simulation models under HLA. The study focused on the prototype of a virtual engineering environment, called the Virtual Test Bed, designed to analyze operations of current and future space vehicles, spaceports, and ranges as a distributed simulation environment.