JFORCES
OVERVIEW
JFORCES
is a comprehensive simulation support environment encompassing space, air, land, naval
and submarine assets. Initially developed as a real-time, man-in-the-loop
air defense command and control structure, FORCES has evolved into JFORCES - a
comprehensive interactive and batch joint force simulation support environment
capable of supporting engineering through campaign analyses. FORCES is built around a
simulation executive; a message-passing gateway orchestrating distributed processing and human
control centers on a LAN.
Additionally. JFORCES
is a theater-level, joint operations, systems engineering and C4ISR
simulation environment supporting a wide range of military scenarios.
The first release of FORCES was developed as the Air Defense Initiative
Simulation for Command & Control Development, to support Rome Labs
in developing and evaluating alternative C3I concepts for air defense of the
North American continent. Enhancements have been developed and
delivered to the government that include the addition of unconventional
intelligence sources, development of physics-level sensors representation
in Theater Missile Defense scenarios involving SCUDs, mobile launchers and cruise missile
threats, representation of various ISR platforms AWACs and JSTARS, F-15s, SAMs, and other
mission entities. It has been used to provide digital interfaces with live space, air, ground,
and naval platforms and subsystems and fielded workstations in two-way data exchanges.
It has performed executions at the platform level for Operation Desert Storm,
J-8 Southwest Asia and Northeast Asia Major Theaters of War (MTW), Joint operations Concepts
(JOpsC) including MCO 1-N and other theater-level joint force scenarios and vignetts.
FORCES is a
government-owned simulation environment representing a broad range of
defense functions and requirements such as training and readiness, acquisition support,
doctrine development, requirements definition and contingency
planning. FORCES is constructed around a message-passing executive
supporting inter-process communication and network management
interfaces for real-time, distributed, parallel processing. The
FORCES environment provides a robust set of analyst-oriented or
operator-oriented interfaces for pre-simulation configuration, scenario
generation, runtime controls and post-process analysis.
The FORCES
implementation is consistent and standard complint with the DOD High-level
Architecture(HLA) and is capable of interfacing with virtual nodes using the DOD's
Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) Protocol. FORCES ability to
emulate real systems' internal and external message structures in
format, content and rate of presentation, offers an off-the-shelf,
low-overhead capability to integrate, constructive models, manned
simulators and live systems in real-time executions without filters,
interpreters or major data transformations.
FORCES
advanced scenario generation supports:
- Force
structuring and deployment.
- Route
planning for air, ground and naval elements.
- Construction
and tasking of space-based assets.
- Preview
of mission coverages and tactical concepts.
- Target-weapon
pairing.
- Attack
planning and management.
- Defense
planning and management.
- Sustainment/logistics
and support element coordination.
- Operations and
mission planning.
FORCES
enables the user to perform all functions in a fully rule-based
execution mode, with operator override, and with the ability to
return to fully automated control, without interruption, at any time
during the scenario. Rules of Operation and Rules of Engagement used
in the FORCES environment can be interactively constructed within the
FORCES pre-simulation mode. A new graphical work-plan generation interface
is currently being developed and implemented in the Presimulation mode that,
with the JFORCES code Autogeneration capability, will allow the user to define
stimulus-response pairing relationships between simulated functions resident
in the JFORCES application libraries and associated response behaviors (alternative
courses of action that may be sequenced and prioritized by the user from programmed
actions/behaviors also resident in the JFORCES libraries). This graphical interface will
provide rapid scenario generation covering a wide range of alternative behaviors
wuth a minimal level of effort required to reuse or reprogram simulation software.
Rules may be constructed for air, ground,space and naval operations for all assets
in the FORCES framework. Rules may be constructed for automated strategic or tactical
control anddirection of aggregated friendly, OPFOR and neutral force elements at
all echelons of command, or at the individual platform, system or
component level.Knowledge Engines may be incorporated that allow adaptive
behaviors to be invoked for friendly and OPFOR command elements that
allow alternative courses of action to be elected in accordance with beliefs
held by simulation players that are based on interpretation of situation awareness
displays generated by the simulation. The incorporation of these knowledge bases
enables inferential processes to be used to "learn" and recommend best courses
of action, based on past simulated behavior and assessment of the postulated leverage
and benefits of prior decisions on current situations. This capability has been
demonstrated successfully in JFORCES gaming support of the ARPA AUCTIONEER program
where wings and squadrons of unmanned aircraft provided in-flight bids for ownership
of sensor,communications relay, and weapons delivery missions against pop-up targets. Bids
considered current operational situation and commitments and relative priority of
targets as they were identified and developed overall resource allocation startegies
intended to achieve optimization of mission outcomes as lessons were "learned" during
overall mission prosecution.