PRODUCT SUPPORT GROUP (PSG) ANNUAL REPORT Base Object Models (BOMs) PSG Submitted to: The SISO Standards Activities Committee (SAC) Date: 16 December 2008 SISO-REF-029-2008 Submitted By: Annual Report Authors: Paul Gustavson Bob Lutz Jane Bachman Editors: Troy Sizemore Page of 11 Copyright © 2009 SISO All rights reserved SISO-REF-029-2008 SISO PSG Annual Report Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction / Overview: .3 2.0 PSG Officers: .3 3.0 PSG Member List: .3 4.0 Task Descriptions from the PN / TOR: .7 5.0 Product Descriptions from the PN / TOR: 6.0 Significant Results and/or Achievements 7.0 Summary of Technical Findings 8.0 Recommendations for Future SISO Actions - The Way Ahead 9.0 References 10 Page of 11 Copyright © 2009 SISO All rights reserved SISO-REF-029-2008 SISO PSG Annual Report 1.0 INTRODUCTION / OVERVIEW: The Base Object Model (BOM) Product Support Group (PSG) supports the approved SISO-STD-003-2006 BOM Template Specification standard and the SISO-STD-003.12006 Guide for BOM Use and Implementation The BOM PSG will serve as a central point for interpretations of product language, providing help desk support to the SISO community, and accepting, developing, and maintaining problem/change reports to support future product revisions The BOM PSG Terms of Reference (TOR) was approved by the EXCOM on 13 September 2006 The PSG supersedes the BOM Product Development Group (PDG) and will transition that group’s discussion board and document library 2.0 PSG OFFICERS: Chair: Paul Gustavson SimVentions, Inc pgustavson@simventions.com Vice Chair: Bob Lutz Johns Hopkins University/APL robert.lutz@jhuapl.edu Secretary: NSWCDL TEAMS jane.bachman@navy.mil Jane Bachman Officers elected at the last BOM PDG meeting held in Orlando, FL at the Fall SIW on 12 September 2006 3.0 PSG MEMBER LIST: There are 146 BOM PSG members listed below • • • • • • • • • • • Adelantado, Martin (Martin.Adelantado@cert.fr) Aoyama, Isao (aoyama.isao) Bachman, Jane (Jane.Bachman@navy.mil) Bachmann, Michael (michael.bachmann@wpafb.af.mil) Bakker, Trevor (tbakker) Ballard, Cynthia (Cynthia.Ballard@jsf.mil) barrett, shelby (Shelby.Barrett@rl.af.mil) Basrai, Abizar (Abizar@stts.com.sg) Beavin, William (william.c.beavin@boeing.com) Benton, Donald (DBenton@chisystems.com) Bergin, Dennis (dbergin@virtc.com) Page of 11 Copyright © 2009 SISO All rights reserved SISO-REF-029-2008 SISO PSG Annual Report • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Berry, Alan (alan.berry@kirtland.af.mil) Bird, Dave (david.bird@thales-tts.com) Birkel, Paul (pbirkel@mitre.org) Biwer, Mark (mbiwer@cnttr.dtra.mil) Blais, Curtis (clblais@nps.edu) Borah, Jake (jborah@aegistg.com) Boswell, Steve (sboswell@bbn.com) Bowers, Francis (bowersa@mitre.org) Briggs, Richard (rbriggs@virtc.com) Brising, Tyko (tyko@brising.se) Burgess, Pat (pburgess@ist.ucf.edu) Burr, Ralph (burrrc) Cardinal, Cord (ccardinal@virtc.com) Chase, Tram (tchase@simventions.com) Chen, Reggie (reggie@magnetargames.com) Chris, Stapleton, (cstaplet@ist.ucf.edu) Colaci, Raffaella (raffaella.colaci@datamat.it) Cramp, Anthony (Anthony.Cramp@dsto.defence.gov.au) Cutts, Dannie (Dannie Cutts) Daigle, Timothy (timothy.daigle@cox.net) Dave, Gaurang (gaurang.dave@navy.mil) de Kraker, Klaas Jan (kjdkraker) Dillman, Bradford (braddillman) Dobrescu, George (george@hlatools.com) Dobson=20, Richard (Richard.Dobson@PeoAvn.Redstone.Army.Mil) Douglas, Greg (gldouglas@link.com) Edmonds, William (edmonds@bmh.com) Emami, Ray (Gemami@globalinfotek.com) Ferguson, Bill (Wferguson@bbn.com) Figart, Grayden (gfigart@qi-solutions.com) Flowers, Gloria (gloria.flowers@smdc.army.mil) Furuichi, Masakazu (masa@furuichi.com) Garcia, Johnny (john.garcia@gd-ais.com) Gauvin, Pierre (Gauvin.JRP@forces.gc.ca) Girardot, Daniel (daniel.girardotcad@laposte.net) Goodyear, Michael (mike.goodyear@mesa.afmc.af.mil) Gordon, Edward (ed@edgor.com) Gordon, Edward (edgor1) Gordon, William (william.gordon@baesystems.com) Goss, Stephen (sgoss@simventions.com) GOUGEAT, Jean-Louis (jean-louis.gougeat@wanadoo.fr) Gross, David (david.c.gross@boeing.com) Guillerit, Jean-Baptiste (jean-baptiste.guillerit@eads.com) gunn, george (george.gunn@ngc.com) Gustavson, Paul (pgustavson@simventions.com) Hancock, John (johnh@artistech.com) Page of 11 Copyright © 2009 SISO All rights reserved SISO-REF-029-2008 SISO PSG Annual Report • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Harkrider, Susan (susan.harkrider@nvl.army.mil) Harris, Glen (gharris@spectra-research.com) Harrison, Nathalie (Nathalie.Harrison@drdc-rddc.gc.ca) Herzog, Reinhard (Reinhard.Herzog@iitb.fraunhofer.de) Hill, Frank (frhill@isp.com) Hollenbach, Jim (jimh@simstrat.com) Hougland, Erik (erik.hougland@navy.mil) Hughes, Charles (ceh@cs.ucf.edu) Hughes, George (ghughes@simventions.com) Hwang, Jae Jun (h2j) Igarza, Jean-Louis (JeanLouis.Igarza@free.fr) Jinkerson, John (john.jinkerson@cae.com) Johannisson, Per (pelle.johannisson@telia.com) Johansson, Ulf (ulf.johansson@saabsystems.se) Jones, Stephen (sajones@cae.co.uk) Joshi, Rajive (rajive@rti.com) Karphammer, Anna (anna.karphammar@fmv.se) Kent, John (jrkent@qinetiq.com) Kraisser, Jeffrey (jeff.kraisser@ngc.com) Leite, Mike (mleite@dmso.mil) Lemmers, Arjan (lemmers@nlr.nl) LeRest, Nathalie (nathalie.le-rest@dga.defense.gouv.fr) Little, Reed (little@sei.cmu.edu) Lofstrand, Bjorn (bjorn.lofstrand@pitch.se) Low, Kok_Seng (lkokseng@starnet.gov.sg) Lowe, Van (vlowe@ist.ucf.edu) Lue, Franklin (flue) Lutz, Robert (robert.lutz@jhuapl.edu) Mamaghani, Farid (farid@halcyon.com) Marden, Lee (Lee_Marden@raytheon.com) MAUGET, Regis (regis.mauget@capgemini.com) McCall, Edward (edward.mccall@eglin.af.mil) McFarlane, Darren (darren.mcfarlane@defence.gov.au) McGraw, Robert (rmcgraw@ramlabs.com) McLaughlin, Eugene (gene.mclaughlin@gdds.com) Montañes, Francisco (pacogmont) Morrison, John (jm@mak.com) Morse, Katherine (katherine.l.morse@saic.com) Myjak, Michael (mmyjak@virtualworkshop.com) Neugebauer, Eckehard (neugebauer@iabg.de) Ng, Tze (prosurfr@singnet.com.sg) Ng, Zac (nweitze@dsta.gov.sg) O'Connor, Michael (michael.oconnor@itt.com) Oates, William (william.oates@afams.af.mil) Pai, Fang-Ping (fppai@ms4.hinet.net) Petty, Mikel (pettym@uah.edu) Page of 11 Copyright © 2009 SISO All rights reserved SISO-REF-029-2008 SISO PSG Annual Report • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Quedenfeld, Greg (Greg_Quedenfeld@emainc.com) Radde, Guillaume (guillaume.radde@nist.gov) Reichenthal, Steven (steven.w.reichenthal@boeing.com) Reynolds, Terrance (terrance.reynolds1@us.army.mil) Root, Lawrence (lroot@simventions.com) Ross, Peter (Peter.Ross@dsto.defence.gov.au) Rouget, Chris (cjrouget@preforce.demon.co.uk) Sardella, Joseph (joesard) Saultz, James (jsaultz@atl.lmco.com) Saunders, Randy (R.Saunders@IEEE.org) SCHONEMANN, Philippe (schonemann@crosat.terre.defense.gouv.fr) schwalm, Steve (srschwalm) Schwindt, Christian (cschwindt@virtc.com) Scrudder, Roy (scrudder) Seavey, Kevin (seavey@bmh.com) Severinghaus, Richard (rick.severinghaus@d-a-s.com) Shanks, Graham (graham.shanks@baesystems.com) Sheasby, Steven (ssheasby@raytheon.com) Shlyaev, Petr (Petr.Shlyaev@d3group.com) Simonis, Ingo (simonis@uni-muenster.de) Sisson, Ben (bsisson@simventions.com) Sizemore, Troy (tsizemore@simventions.com) Soller, Jerome (soller@cognitech-ut.com) Steinman, Jeff (steinman@ramlabs.com) Stoudenmire, Eugene (stoudenmire@bmh.com) Strand, Richard (richard.strand@us.army.mil) Suttles, Duncan (DSuttles) Tapp, Martin (tappm) Taylor, Simon (Simon.Taylor@brunel.ac.uk) Thio, Joo (tsengjoo@dsta.gov.sg) Thomas, Gary (garyt@tridsys.com) Togay, Cengiz (ctogay@metu.edu.tr) Tolk, Andreas (atolk@odu.edu) Trbovich, Sarah (trbovich@cutlass-se.com) Tufarolo, John (jtufarolo@virtc.com) Turrell, Robert (Chris) (cturrell@msiac.dmso.mil) Vick, Shon (shon.vick@jhuapl.edu) Waite, Bill (bwaite@aegistg.com) Waller, Björn (wrb@foi.se) Wedgwood, Janet (jwedgwoo@atl.lmco.com) Welsh, John (john.j.welsh@lmco.com) Wuerfel, Roger (rwuerfel@dctd.saic.com) Youngblood, Simone (Simone.Youngblood.CTR@dmso.mil) Zimmer, Guy (Guy.zimmer@hanscom.af.mil) Page of 11 Copyright © 2009 SISO All rights reserved SISO-REF-029-2008 SISO PSG Annual Report 4.0 TASK DESCRIPTIONS FROM THE PN / TOR: The support for the approved BOM standards (SISO-STD-003-2006 and SISO-STD003.1-2006) includes: • Establish and maintain a process to respond to questions (requests for interpretation) concerning the language used in the standard, the intention or result meant by a particular action, or an explanation of the reasons behind what the standard states • Establish and maintain a Help Desk function using the SISO provided discussion board to answer questions and provide support to the community • Establish and maintain a Problem/Change Request process to collect problems and change requests from the community Conduct analysis and refinement of submitted problems and change requests • When the PSG is operating in parallel with a PDG developing a revision to a product, forward refined Problem/Change Reports (PCRs) to the PDG for use in revision development • Coordinate with related Conference Forums, related PDGs, related PSGs, and related SGs • Identify and create Product Nominations for additional parts or supplements • Conduct periodic review and evaluation of the supported products Prepare recommendations for reaffirmation, revision, or withdrawal • Provide SAC an annual report of PSG activities 5.0 PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS FROM THE PN / TOR: Although there are no specific PSG products identified within the PN for this activity, it is the goal of the BOM PSG to produce and/or facilitate the sharing of information related to the development and use of BOMs This includes SIW white papers, and presentations related to real projects and research The most recent set of SIW papers that have been developed during the span on this PSG include the following: • • • • • • Colin Brain, “Using Patterns to support Simulation Interoperability and Re-use”, 08S-SIW-046, Spring SIW 2008 Mojtahed, Andersson, Kabilan, “BOM++, A Semantically Enriched BOM”, 08SSIW-050, Spring SIW 2008 Sidney Antommarchi, Richard Mangieri, Charles Budde, “Enhancing and Expanding the M&S Composability Paradigm”, 08S-SIW-067, Spring SIW 2008 Stephen Kay, John Scholman, “Application of Model Composability”, 08S-SIW072, Spring SIW 2008 Susan Harkrider “Using the DoDAF to Create a System Requirement Specification”, 08S-SIW-089, Spring SIW 2008 Timar, Bikmax, Tasdelen, Akgun, Dikenelli, Using BOM in Development of Distributed Simulation Projects, 07F-SIW-057, Fall SIW 2007 Page of 11 Copyright © 2009 SISO All rights reserved SISO-REF-029-2008 SISO PSG Annual Report • • • • Möller, Gustavson, Lutz, Löfstrand, Making Your BOMs and FOM Modules Play Together, 07F-SIW-069, Fall SIW 2007 Watkins, Lallement, Applying the Base Object Model to the Torpedo Enterprise Advanced Modeling and Simulation Initiative, 07F-SIW-077, Fall SIW 2007 Thomas, Gustavson, Sorenson, Making Steps in Achieving Collaborative Simulation Development, 07S-SIW-071, Spring SIW 2007 Blais, Gustavson, Gustavsson, Reichenthal, Design and Development of an Architecture for Demonstrating the Interplay of Emerging SISO Standards, 07SSIW-069, Spring SIW 2007 Additionally, the BOM PSG is currently updating the BOM FAQ to provide additional assistance to the M&S community who find interest in the use of BOMs 6.0 SIGNIFICANT RESULTS AND/OR ACHIEVEMENTS The following provides details regarding the BOM PSG agenda and discussion items held at the most resent Simulation Interoperability Workshop (SIW) events Fall 2007 • • • • • • 0800-0805 Introduction & Welcome - Paul Gustavson 0805-0830 Overview: Everything You Wanted to Know About BOMs in 25 minutes? – Paul Gustavson 0830-0900 Walk Thrus: First Year Final Report / FAQ 0900-0950 Community Share: BOM Stories from the Field 0950-1000 Review Action Items 1000 Wrap-up & Adjourn - Paul Gustavson Spring 2008 • • • 1900 - Welcome - Background / PSG Goals / Mission / PSG Infrastructure 1910 - DISCUSSION: The Application/Use of BOM 2010 - DISCUSSION: Recommendations for Advancing the BOM Standard Due to travel issues involving officers of the BOM PSG, we were not able to hold a meeting at the 2008 Fall SIW in Orlando A BOM PSG meeting is being planned for Spring SIW in 2009 7.0 SUMMARY OF TECHNICAL FINDINGS Current discussions within the M&S community continue to reveal the opportunity to leverage BOMs as a neutral way to identify conceptual models and support LVC interoperability at the object model level Evidence of this can be found in the recent discussions involving the DoD LVCAR Study sponsored by the M&S Steering Page of 11 Copyright © 2009 SISO All rights reserved SISO-REF-029-2008 SISO PSG Annual Report Committee, which identified the opportunity object modeling offers in bridging / enabling interoperability across different LVC architectures, the recent Joint Common Object Modeling (JCOM) activity, which is exploring a means to offer such object modeling, and lastly a LVC I/ITSEC paper authored by Cutts, Gustavson and Ashe, titled LVC Interoperability via Application of the Base Object Model (BOM) The community has also evaluated and explored how BOMs and FOM Modules proposed by the HLA Evolved PDG, can be supportive of one another This was discussed at the Spring SIW, and was formally presented at the Fall SIW via paper 07FSIW-069 8.0 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE SISO ACTIONS - THE WAY AHEAD There are specific recommendations that the BOM PSG have identified which it shares with the SAC These are outlined below 8.1 BOM Spec Update (long term) It is the anticipation of the PSG leadership that the BOM documents will need to be relooked at determine if the HLA language that currently exists within the BOM template specification can / should be somewhat relaxed to more easily accommodate the ability for BOMs to “map” with other architecture implementations besides HLA 8.2 BOM FAQ (near term) In the meantime, since BOMs are proving to be useful for non-HLA projects, it is vital that the FAQ continue be updated and shared with the community in the near-term to assist those who are seeking to leverage BOMs for conceptual modeling, and defining object models at a neutral level independent of their commitment to HLA, TENA or other architectures 8.3 Socializing SISO-based Resources (near-term / long-term) The sharing of BOMs as they are created and used should also be highlighted to publicize and facilitate the use of SISO standards and facilitate reuse, which is a SISO objective This recommendation may require SISO, specifically the SAC and EXCOM, to discuss and determine a course of action to help socialize, and support the sharing of SISO standard-based products through the use of repositories and/or registries Options might include SISO helping to sponsor or co-sponsor one or more existing MSRRs, which collect and share M&S resources that are based on SISO standards Another possibility is for SISO to consider standing up a SISO specific repository as more SISO-based products are built and shared While this may attract more individuals to SISO’s web site and help better spread SISO’s message, this however, Page of 11 Copyright © 2009 SISO All rights reserved SISO-REF-029-2008 SISO PSG Annual Report might require a greater degree of personal support, and may not be realizable because it would result in greater operational expense Another possibility is to simply provide a registry via the SISO website, in which SISO affiliated organizations, and agencies can register and post their metadata to SISObased resources In this way, the SISO website, serves as a portal to other resources featuring SISO-based resources This could be achieved with minimal amount of increase to the reoccurring operational expense of the SISO web site While the potential course of actions pertaining to this issue may not be easy to determine, ideas should be discussed and, if a mutually convenient approach to help better socialize the availability of SISO-based resources can be found, it should be carried out 8.4 Relationship of SISO Standards (near-term / long-term) The other recommendation, which has been identified prior to this report, is the need to relate and show how SISO standards complement one another As more standards are developed and evolve, the need to show the synergy of SISO standards becomes vital Otherwise, the interoperability of our standards becomes a concern Consider that presently the BOM can be used as an aid to support other efforts that utilize SISO-based standards (and IEEE standards) For example, while it has not been fully demonstrated, there has been discussion on how BOMs can be used in connection with DSEEP, MSDL, SRML, HLA (including HLA Evolved FOM Modules), and CBML These types of discussions need to continue to be researched and shared As more SISO products are considered and produced (including at the trial-use level), much thought should go into determining if an existing standard either (a) provides some of the capability sought within a PN for a new standard, or (b) can be used to complement the use of other SISO standards 9.0 REFERENCES The BOM PSG SISO site link is http://www.sisostds.org/index.php? tg=articles&idx=More&article=450&topics=112 • Base Object Model (BOM) homepage is http://www.boms.info/ • SISO Standards for BOMs: • Base Object Model (BOM) Template Specification (approved May 06) is located at http://www.sisostds.org/index.php? tg=fileman&idx=get&id=5&gr=Y&path=SISO+Products %2FSISO+Standards&file=BOM_Specification_v2006_FINAL.pdf Page 10 of 11 Copyright © 2009 SISO All rights reserved SISO-REF-029-2008 SISO PSG Annual Report • Guide for BOM Use and Implementation (approved May 06) is located at http://www.sisostds.org/index.php? tg=fileman&idx=get&id=5&gr=Y&path=SISO+Products %2FSISO+Standards&file=BOM_Guide_v2006_FINAL.pdf Page 11 of 11 Copyright © 2009 SISO All rights reserved ... is the need to relate and show how SISO standards complement one another As more standards are developed and evolve, the need to show the synergy of SISO standards becomes vital Otherwise, the. .. Copyright © 2009 SISO All rights reserved SISO- REF-029-2008 SISO PSG Annual Report 4.0 TASK DESCRIPTIONS FROM THE PN / TOR: The support for the approved BOM standards (SISO- STD-003-2006 and SISO- STD003.1-2006)... SISO standards Another possibility is for SISO to consider standing up a SISO specific repository as more SISO- based products are built and shared While this may attract more individuals to SISO? ??s