Analyzing Anti-Terrorist Tactical Effectiveness of Picket Boats for Force Protection of Navy Ships Using X3D Graphics and Agent-Based Simulation

摘要

Despite the many advances achieved within both Modeling and Simulation and Information Technology over the past several decades, practical application of such technology remains under-utilized by operational units in the United States Navy. Furthermore, when such technology has been deployed in the last decade it has been to exercise operator proficiency or increase C41 battlespace awareness. Few tools have allowed operational warfighters to run what-if simulation scenarios to aid in development of tactical plans for executing published doctrine. The approach taken in this thesis is to select an exemplar warfare area, in this case Anti-Terrorism and Force Protection for Navy ships, and through research and development to identify, develop, and deploy the necessary modeling and simulation (M & S) technologies to demonstrate a prototypical planning tool that can be used by today's deployed warfighter. All research and work is conducted in a web-based, user-centric' fashion utilizing a combination of user-driven and agent-based control of entities for simulation iterations, along with various open source technologies which include Extensible 3D Graphics (X3D), Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), and Extensible Markup Language (XML).