Lukes -1
Cartographic Support for Advanced Distributed
Simulation
George E. Lukes
Program Manager
Information Systems Office
Advanced Research Projects Agency
3701 North Fairfax Drive
Arlington, Virginia 22203-1714
USA
ABSTRACT
Emerging requirements for diverse spatial data bases to support a broad spectrum of modeling and simulation
activities can profit from advances in the state-of-the-art for automated cartographic data base generation and
maintenance. This paper provides an introduction to Advanced Distributed Simulation (ADS) and the associated
requirements for Synthetic Environments to support Synthetic Theaters of War. It provides a technical rationale
for exploring applications of image understanding technology to automated cartography in support of ADS and
related programs benefiting from automated analysis of mapping, Earth resources and reconnaissance imagery.
Keywords: advanced distributed simulation, virtual world databases, cartographic databases, syn
thetic environments
1 Introduction
The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) is developing Advanced Distributed Simulation (ADS)
technology to address a broad spectrum of Defense applications including joint training and mission rehearsal. 2
ADS builds on prior work in Simulation Networking (SIMNET)—which first linked low-cost manned M 1-tank
simulators in distributed systems for force-on-force Army training—by leveraging three critical technologies:
• Synthetic Environments—digital battlespaces representing the real world with increasing fidelity in which
the human players and synthetic forces interact;
• Synthetic Forces—computer generated entities programmed to behave like real forces;
• Computer Networking—advanced communications linking humans and thousands of Synthetic Forces from
distributed locations into a common Synthetic Environments.
Expansion of ADS to enable larger and more diverse exercises is based on continued development of these tech
nologies within a high-level architecture, associated protocols and standards for Distributed Interactive Simulation
(DIS). A primary objective is support combined exercises linking participants from geographically distributed sites
in a shared synthetic environment capable of integrating three different simulation modalities:
