Introduction to Special Issue of Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation: Novel Approaches to Defense and Military Modeling and Simulation

Authors

Scott D. Snyder, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow
James M. Taylor Jr, The Peter Kiewit Institute, University of NebraskaFollow

Date of this Version

2014

Document Type

Article

Citation

Published in Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation: Applications, Methodology, Technology 11:3 (2014), pp. 203–204; doi: 10.1177/1548512914537188

Comments

Copyright © 2014 The Society for Modeling and Simulation International; published by Sage Publications. Used by permission.

Abstract

Developing solutions to complex problems in government and industry is a daunting task that often requires tremendous investment in time and resources to solve. Modeling and simulation (M&S) has incredible potential to streamline development and cut costs by conducting virtual experiments that give insight into performance under various test conditions. As many program managers in the federal acquisition process can attest, realistic testing of live equipment in an operational environment can be some of the most expensive parts of a development program. M&S can provide insight into mission success of yetto- bedesigned systems without the need to actually build and test the system in the real world. Similarly, M&S tools can evaluate human effectiveness under various scenarios while only risking the virtual lives of avatars. When properly applied, M&S capabilities provide critical insight that allows leaders to make smart decisions about how to accomplish the mission and increase human performance more quickly and at lower cost and risk than reliance on real-world testing.

Throughout this special issue, we examine a variety of novel M&S concepts that promise to deliver simulation results to the defense and military community that positively impact system-level mission studies and human effectiveness research. These M&S tools not only affect the defense and military community, but can also have application to a wide variety of government and industry users with needs to solve similar problem sets. Whether the end goal is cost savings, operational analysis or refinement of sub-components, the M&S concepts described in this special issue testify to the power that these tools can provide to help decision makers efficiently allocate scarce resources and provide improved performance of humans and the systems that they operate in the long run.