The 5th International New Horizons in Search Theory Workshop: Investigating New Metrics
DNOsim Agent-Based Computer Model for Distributed Network Operations (DNO)
Dr. Richard A. Katz, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division
Stephen D. Basile, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division
Jeffrey Cares, Alidade Inc.
David Garvey, Alidade Inc.
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Alidade Incorporated and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division have collaborated on DNOsim, an Agent Based Model of a notional combat between distributed, networked forces. The agents in DNOsim represent the physical entities in a military operation that sense, shoot, communicate, move and consume commodities. They can have characteristics that represent physical attributes, such as speed, burn rate, fuel tank capacity, etc. They also have characteristics that represent informational attributes, such as rule sets, simple informational messages that can be passed between agents or data elements that can be read by other agents.
Since the set of all possible interactions in distributed, networked operations is extraordinarily huge, DNOsim is designed to run as many times as practical to uncover the dominant rules and important levers in a particular combat scenario. One of the main uses of DNOsim is to test as many possible outcomes of potential rule sets as possible. Prior to execution of rule sets in actual operations, rule sets can be tested in the analytical model for robustness, pathological behavior, and sensitivity to information conditions or to the survivability of the physical elements they govern. When fully mature, DNOsim should allow for testing of the rule sets for a particular context within a matter of hours, making it a good candidate for an operational planning tool. In addition, the large sample of outcomes and behaviors produced by DNOsim should also be a useful source of new rule sets that are not contained within an expert’s experience base or in doctrinal publications.
The presentation describes the model in detail and illustrates a set of simulation runs for a search and rescue scenario. More information can be found at http://www.dnobook.com.