Keywords

Abstract

The Department of the Army has no individual or organization that accredits a simulation-based experiment (SIMEXp). Army Regulations require that the modeling and simulation (M&S) be accredited – but not any of the other components required to execute a SIMEXp. Each of the Army’s Centers of Excellence (maneuver, fires, air maneuver, maneuver support, sustainment and heath readiness) conduct multiple SIMEXp annually- the Maneuver Battle Lab alone averages eight to ten per year, but no outside agency or regulation accredits the events. The purpose of this tutorial is to present a framework for SIMEXp accreditation and enable attendees to understand all of the areas which must be accredited for the overall accreditation of a SIMEXp. Accreditation of the M&S will be discussed, as it serves as the foundation for an overall accreditation, but there are other equally important components requiring separate accreditations. After participating in the tutorial, attendees will be able to identify the components of tactical and operational scenarios which must be validated by current warfighters – and that the person who accredits those aspects must have credible knowledge of the current state of doctrine, military organizations, and operational concepts (friendly and enemy) to be studied.

Nothing in the Army’s regulatory accreditation of the M&S addresses the physical and computational environment on which the SIMEXp is conducted. For example, if the company commander would only know the happenings of a subordinate platoon’s area of operations by what is reported on by voice or texted on a mission command system, then the SIMEXp should be physically structured to reflect those same conditions. Not only must the M&S be accredited, but also the hardware and network on which they are running to ensure processors are robust enough to execute as required, the network transmission speeds are sufficient, and no packets are being lost during execution.

Finally, attendees will learn how to design and assess the analytical methods used during a SIMEXp to ensure accreditation of the analytical portion of the SIMEXp. The analysis plan, data collection and reduction methodology, and computational methods for analyzing the data must all be documented and accredited in a peer-reviewed final report in order for the overall SIMEXp to be accredited. This tutorial is intended for those interested in gaining a better understanding of proper SIMEXp design and why more than just the M&S must be accredited.