New automated approaches for preparation and electronic distribution of large scale Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) exercises is required to accommodate the increasing number of DIS exercises and geographically dispersed exercise participants.

This paper describes two prototype tools - 1) automated DIS exercise preparation tool, and 2) an automated electronic distribution tool. The preparation tool uses an expert system to reduce the time to prepare large scale DIS exercises from weeks/months to minutes/days. The electronic distribution tool demonstrates a first implementation of the DIS "Set Data" protocol data unit (PDU) for electronic exercise initialization.

Three viewpoints of the automated tools are combined in this paper: 1) government - requirement statement, and DIS implementation, 2) contractor - systems analysis and expert system implementation, and 3) military - ease of use, validation.

Future direction and joint applications of the automated DIS tools are also presented.

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Charles Bradley