Developing interoperability standards for distributed simulaton and COTS simulation packages with the CSPI PDG

For many years discrete-event simulation has been used to analyze production and logistics problems in manufacturing and defense. In the early 1980s, visual interactive modelling environments were created that supported the development, experimentation and visualization of simulation models. Today these environments are termed Commercial-off-the-shelf Simulation Packages (CSPs). With the advent of distributed simulation and, later, the High Level Architecture, the possibility existed to link together these CSPs and their models to simulate larger problems within enterprises (e.g. multiple production lines) and across supply chains. However, the problem of standardizing the use of the HLA and its constituent parts in this domain exists. The solution of this problem is the work of the CSP Interoperability Product Development Group (CSPI PDG). The purpose of this paper is to introduce the CSPI PDG and to review the suite of standards proposed by the group and current progress.