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It has been a
little less than ten years since modeling and simulation (M&S) hit the
need on the curve. During these past
few years a great deal of marketing of the potential of M&S has occurred,
which resulted in a significant influx of funding for research and
development (R&D) projects, especially in the area of distributed
simulation.
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One of the
significant experiments in this area — the DARPA Synthetic Theater of War
program — officially ended this year, bringing to an end one of the more
robust experiments in distributed simulation.
We are now in a time where most of the M&S funding is targeted at
production programs, with much fewer dollars going into R&D or
experimentation.
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Although it is
good that major programs are capitalizing on previous R&D efforts, it
would not be true to say that the necessary R&D has been completed to
realize the vision of distributed simulation.
It would be true to say that we now have a much better understanding
of the issues. What is needed now is a
period of reflection on the vision, where we are, what was done right, what
hasn’t worked well, and where we should be headed for the next five to ten
years.
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