Evaluating communications system performance effects at a system of systems level

The complexity of net-centric system of systems (SoS) being fielded today has the military leadership increasingly dependent on modeling and simulation (M&S) tools for evaluating performance. Several types of M&S tools are required to model different aspects of military systems, yet these tools often have different computational fidelities in terms of time and scale. Current approaches using direct information transfer between M&S tools, such as High Level Architecture (HLA) and MATREX, do not provide the mechanisms for disparate tools to make direct use of each other's information [1], [2]. Thus, many military SoS analyses assume perfect communications, an unrealistic assumption that leaves a gap for conducting more comprehensive analyses for large-scale, net-centric SoS problems. This research addresses this gap by developing general purpose methodologies to bridge the gap between diverse M&S tools resulting in a capability that enables military decision makers to evaluate comms system performance effects at a SoS level [3]. This paper discusses the methodology, including parameter selection, data generation, surrogate modeling and SoS simulation results.