Applying temporal databases to HLA data collection and analysis

The High Level Architecture (HLA) for distributed simulations was proposed by the Defense Modeling and Simulation Office of the Department of Defense (DOD) in order to support interoperability among simulations as well as reuse of simulation models. One aspect of reusability is the ability to collect and analyze data from simulation executions, including a record of events that occur during the execution, and the states of the simulation objects. Several approaches have been developed for data collection in distributed simulation environments. The HLA presents an interesting new paradigm within which to design effective data collection and analysis techniques. The capabilities of the run-time infrastructure (RTI) can be exploited to design efficient and flexible data collection tools. Recent research on the efficient log-based implementations of temporal databases may enable more efficient collection and analysis of data from simulation executions. Using a distributed real-time temporal database approach, we may be able to expand run-time analysis opportunities. We present a list of important research questions regarding the utility and viability of a temporal database data collection and analysis approach. The questions address issues of how and where to collect the data, how to resolve temporal issues in a distributed system, what functionality must be supported by the temporal database, and what the relationship to the run-time infrastructure (RTI) should be