Implementing the high level architecture in the virtual test bed

The virtual test bed (VTB) is a prototype of a virtual engineering environment to study operations of current and future space vehicles, spaceports, and ranges. The high-level architecture (HLA) as defined by the Department of Defense (DoD), is the main environment. The VTB/HLA implementation described here represents different systems that interact in the simulation of a space shuttle liftoff. This example implementation displays the collaboration of a simplified version of the space shuttle simulation model and a simulation of the launch scrub evaluation model. Spaceports and ranges are complex systems. This VTB framework is a collaborative computing environment that integrates in a seamless fashion simulation models that represent the different stages in the lifecycle of a complex system. A complex system is a non-linear system of systems whose interactions bring together interesting emergent properties that are very difficult to visualize and/or study by using the traditional approach of decomposition.