Status report for DCMF - 2009

Support for developing interoperable simulation assets has recently become an area of focus within the Modelling and Simulation (M&S) community. Concomitantly conceptual modelling has been recognized as an important step within the simulation development process. Conceptual models help improve common understanding between stakeholders involved in simulation development and thereby are key to transforming user requirements into implemented simulations. The Defence Conceptual Modelling Framework (DCMF) is the Swedish Defence Research Agency - FOI's proposal for how to deal with conceptual modelling issues within the military domain. DCMF is a project at FOI which tries to create a framework for capturing, analysing, and representing conceptual models. These models are formalised descriptions of real world processes, entities, environmental factors, associated relationships, and interactions that constitute a particular set of military missions, operations, or tasks. Such conceptual models should be generic and applicable to as many military scenarios as possible without any loss of critical information. DCMF also includes a process for developing the conceptual models of military operations. DCMF is still the subject of research and development, and as a result all of its parts have not yet been addressed. In addition to processes, there are a number of other important elements that are under development, in particular the form and content for the different knowledge components produced by the process, as well as the library where these should be stored. The project aims to develop a prototype to partly demonstrate the benefits of DCMF. The main activity has therefore focused on determining the requirements of the DCMF library and the conceptual models. Furthermore, a selection of appropriate scenarios as the basis for case studies, and the appropriate interface to users, has been analysed. Moreover, the project actively participates and contributes to a NATO group, also studying the problem area Conceptual Modelling. The main purpose of this work is to define "conceptual modelling for military M&S", and recommend a process for production of conceptual models. These will then be packaged as guidelines and will be delivered to both NATO and SISO as a basis for further standardisation work. Finally, the project is also trying to support efforts within the Swedish Armed Forces related to the area of Model Based Capability Development (MbFU) (mainly through utilization of the architecture framework MODAF). The status of all these activities is outlined in the report.