Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol

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ALSP Logo

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:

1. ALSP Infrastructure Software (AIS) that provides distributed runtime simulation support and management;
2. A reusable ALSP Interface consisting of generic data exchange message protocols; and
3. 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.

References

• Anita Adams, Gordon Miller, and David Seidel, November 1993, "Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol (ALSP) 1993 Confederation Annual Report", The MITRE Corporation. A history of the ALSP program in fiscal year 1993.

• William E. Babineau, Philip S. Barry, C. Zachary Furness, "Automated Testing within the Joint Training confederation (JTC)", Proceedings of the Fall 1998 Simulation Interoperability Workshop, Orlando, FL, September, 1998.

• MAJ John Bullington and Gordon Miller, September 1996, "Intelligence Simulation Support to the Joint Training Confederation: Implications for Future Development", TACSIM Project Office and The MITRE Corporation, published in the September 1996 edition of Phalanx, a MORS publication.

• Lydia P. Dubon, 1993, "Joining a Distributed Simulation Environment via ALSP," Proceedings of the 1993 Winter Simulation Conference.

• Laura Feinerman, Gordon Miller, David Prochnow, Richard Weatherly, Annette Wilson, and Anita Adams Zabek, "Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol (ALSP) Project 1994 Annual Report", dated March 1995, The MITRE Corporation. A history of the ALSP program in fiscal year 1994.

• Mary C. Fischer, April 1994, "Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol (ALSP) - Managing Confederation Development", U. S. Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command. A paper presented on the 1994 Elecsim Internet Conference.

• Mary C. Fischer, Anita Adams, Gordon Miller, June 1994, "Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol (ALSP) - Training for the Future", U. S. Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command and The MITRE Corporation. A paper presented at the Military Operations Research Symposium 62 meeting at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

• Mary C. Fischer, December 1994, "Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol (ALSP) - Managing Confederation Development", U. S. Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command. A paper presented at the 1994 Winter Simulation Conference in Orlando, Florida.

• Mary C. Fischer, April 1995, "Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol (ALSP) - Future Training with Distributed Interactive Simulations", U. S. Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command. A paper presented at the 1995 International Training Equipment Conference on 25-27 April 1995 at The Hague in The Netherlands.

• Mary C. Fischer, September 1995, "Joint Simulated Battlefield", U. S. Army Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation Command, published in Proceedings of the 36th Defence Research Group (DRG) Seminar on Modeling and Simulation, 5-8 September 1995, Washington, D.C.

• Mary C. Fischer, October 1995, "Joint Simulated Battlefield Through Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol', U. S. Army Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation Command, published in Proceedings of the Southeastern Simulation Conference '95, Orlando, FL.

• Mary C. Fischer, March 1996, "Joint Training Confederation", U. S. Army Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation Command, published in Proceedings of the First International Simulation Technology and Training (SimTecT) Conference, 25-26 March 1996, Melbourne, Australia.

• Sean P. Griffin, Ernest H. Page, Zachary Furness, Mary C. Fischer, "Providing Uninterrupted Training to the Joint Training Confederation (JTC) During Transition to the High Level Architecture (HLA)",Proceedings of the 1997 Simulation Technology and Training (SimTecT) Conference, Canberra, Australia, 17-20 March, 1997.

• George J. McFadden, "An Approach to Management of Enumerated Data in Federations", Proceedings of the Spring 2000 Simulation Interoperability Workshop, Orlando, FL, March, 2000.

• Gordon Miller and Anita Zabek, March 1996, "The Joint Training Confederation and the Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol", The MITRE Corporation, published in the June 1996 edition of Phalanx, a MORS publication.

• Ernest Page, Brad Canova, John Tufarolo, February 1996 (revised September 1996), "A Case Study of Verification, Validation and Accreditation for Advanced Distributed Simulation", ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation, July 1997.

• David L. Prochnow, Ernest H. Page, Mary C. Fischer, [http://ms.ie.org/alsp/biblio/siw_spec_paper/SIW97_Spec_Paper.html "Management of the Joint Training Confederation Family of Specifications", Proceedings of the Spring 1997 Simulation Interoperability Workshop, Orlando, FL, 3-7 March, 1997.

• David L. Prochnow, Mary C. Fischer, "Unique Requirements for the Representation of Logistics in a Distributed Simulation Environment for Military Training", Proceedings of the Spring 1997 Simulation Interoperability Workshop, Orlando, FL, 3-7 March, 1997.

• David L. Prochnow, Ernest H. Page, Bryan Youmans, "Development of a Federation Management Tool: Implications for HLA", Proceedings of the Spring 1998 Simulation Interoperability Workshop, Orlando, FL, 9-13 March, 1998.

• David Seidel, March 1993, "Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol (ALSP) Program Status and History", The MITRE Corporation. A history of the ALSP program from its beginning in 1989 through 1992.

• John Tufarolo and Ernest Page, "Evolving the VV&A Process for the ALSP Joint Training Confederation", Proceedings for the 1996 Winter Simulation Conference, pp. 952-958, Coronado, CA, 8-11 December, 1996.

• Richard Weatherly, David Seidel, and Jon Weissman, July 1991, "Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol", The MITRE Corporation. A paper presented at the 1991 Summer Computer Simulation Conference in Baltimore, Maryland

• Richard Weatherly, Annette Wilson, and Sean Griffin, December 1993, "ALSP - Theory, Experience, and Future Directions", The MITRE Corporation. A paper presented at the 1993 Winter Computer Simulation Conference in Los Angeles, California.

• R.M. Weatherly, A.L. Wilson, B.S. Canova, E.H. Page, A.A. Zabek, M.C. Fischer, January 1996, "Advanced Distributed Simulation Through the Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol", published in Proceedings of the 29th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Volume 1, pp. 407-415, Wailea, Hawaii, 3-6 January.

• Annette Wilson and Richard Weatherly, April 1994, "New Traffic Reduction and Management Tools for ALSP Confederations", The MITRE Corporation. A paper presented on the 1994 Elecsim Internet Conference.

• Annette Wilson and Richard Weatherly, December 1994, "The Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol: An Evolving System", The MITRE Corporation. A paper presented at the 1994 Winter Simulation Conference in Orlando, Florida.