The Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol (ALSP) is a protocol and supporting software that enables simulations to interoperate with one another. Replaced by the High Level Architecture (simulation) (HLA), it was used by the US military to link analytic and training simulations.
ALSP consists of: ALSP Infrastructure Software (AIS) that provides distributed runtime simulation support and management; A reusable ALSP Interface consisting of generic data exchange message protocols; and Participating simulations adapted for use with ALSP.
History
In 1990, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) employed The MITRE Corporation to study the application of distributed interactive simulation principles employed in SIMNET to aggregate-level constructive training simulations. Based on prototype efforts, a community-based experiment was conducted in 1991 to extend SIMNET to link the US Army's Corps Battle Simulation (CBS) and the US Air Force's Air Warfare Simulation (AWSIM). The success of the prototype and users' recognition of the value of this technology to the training community led to development of production software. The first ALSP confederation, providing air-ground interactions between CBS and AWSIM, supported three major exercises in 1992.
By 1995, ALSP had transitioned to a multi-Service program with simulations representing the US Army (CBS), the US Air Force (AWSIM), the US Navy (RESA), the US Marine Corps (MTWS), electronic warfare (JECEWSI), logistics (CSSTSS), and intelligence (TACSIM). The program had also transitioned from DARPA's research and development emphasis to mainstream management by the US Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI)
Contributions
ALSP developed and demonstrated key aspects of distributed simulation, many of which were applied in the development of HLA. No central node so that simulations can join and depart from the confederation at will Geographic distribution where simulators can be distributed to different geographic locations yet exercise in the same simulated environment Object ownership so each simulation controls its own resources, fires its own weapons and determines appropriate damage to its systems when fired upon A message-based protocol for distributing information from one simulation to all other simulations. Time management so that the times for all simulations appear the same to users and so that event causality is maintained – events should occur in the same sequence in all simulations. Data management permits all simulations to share information in a commonly understood manner even though each had its own representation of data. This includes multiple simulations controlling attributes of the same object. An architecture that permits simulations to continue to use their existing architectures while participating in an ALSP confederation.
Motivation
In 1989, the Warrior Preparation Center (WPC) in Einsiedlerhof, Germany hosted the computerized military exercise ACE-89. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) used ACE-89 as a technology insertion opportunity by funding deployment of the Defense Simulation Internet (DSI). Its packetized video teleconferencing brought general officers of NATO nations face-to-face during a military exercise for the first time; this was well received. But the software application of DSI, distribution of Ground Warfare Simulation (GRWSIM), was less successful. The GRWSIM simulation was unreliable and its distributed database was inconsistent, degrading the effectiveness of the exercise.
DARPA was funding development of a distributed tank trainer system called SIMNET where individual, computerized, tank-crew trainers were connected over local area networks and the DSI to cooperate in a single, virtual battlefield. The success of SIMNET, the disappointment of ACE-89, and the desire to combine existing combat simulations prompted DARPA to initiate research that lead to ALSP.
Basic Tenets
DARPA sponsored the design of a general interface between large, existing, aggregate-level combat simulations. Aggregate-level combat simulations use Lanchestrian models of combat rather than individual physical weapon models and are typically used for high-level training. Despite representational differences, several principles of SIMNET applied to aggregate-level simulations: