Simulation architectures and service-oriented defence information infrastructures - preliminary findings

In line with strategic decisions, the Norwegian Armed Forces’ systems portfolio should be developed in terms of service orientation: Software should be organized in parts so as to be presented as services which can be used readily and rapidly in a range of contexts. This demands that services are interoperable, in the sense that they can function as services for each other; which in turn, demands a common method of communicating data and specifying what the service provides. This also demands loose coupling in the sense that services are sufficiently generic to be useful over a range of service consumers, rather than being designed for one consumer only. A service-oriented manner of organizing software (an architecture) will enable one to build and rebuild software systems readily and rapidly—by adding and replacing services. Service-oriented architecture is geared explicitly to handle rapidly changing operational needs. The Norwegian Armed Forces information infrastructure (INI) is a part of, and should underlie, this service-oriented systems portfolio. Modelling and simulation software must be embedded in this service-oriented portfolio. Welldefined architectural standards already exist for modelling and simulation software. They share many of the characteristics strived for in service-oriented architectures, while differing on other characteristics. An important question therefore pertains to how to integrate modelling and simulation software into the service-oriented portfolio. An essential aspect of this question is what a service should be; what it should offer, how much it should offer, etc. NATO’s C3 Classification Taxonomy is a partitioning of consultation, command and control (C3) functionality (at the enterprise level and at the IT systems level) in a serviceoriented spirit. The taxonomy may be used as a tool for elaborating upon a adequate partitioning of functionality into services, and may be used as a starting point for development, such that it defines the building blocks and relationships of a service-oriented systems portfolio and a service-oriented information infrastructure. We outline a method for using the C3 Taxonomy for this purpose. We apply parts of the method on simulation systems. This then gives a placement of modelling and simulation software according to the C3 Taxonomy. Although the systems portfolio extends beyond C3, this gives a starting point for integrating simulation systems with the Norwegian Armed Forces’ systems portfolio and information infrastructure (INI). The use of the method and the use cases we suggest in this report, are to be considered illustrations. Our user stories should be replaced by ones elicited more systematically, and our analyses should be supplemented by empirical studies, e.g., experiences gathered through the use of demonstrators, and literature studies. Nevertheless, we have mapped out and laid the grounds for further work. It is not self-evident what services should be and where the boundaries are for technical feasibility and costbenefit. It is necessary to conduct systematic studies at all levels—from operational needs down to technical solutions—in order to gain headway in defining modelling and simulation services. Locally, we suggest that this can be done by conducting small manageable pilots in the various military domains, with tight collaboration between military practitioners and researchers, and where the entire spectrum from operational needs to technical feasibility is considered.