A Peer-to-Peer Simulation Architecture

A distributed parallel and soft real-time simulation architecture is presented. It employs a publish-subscribe communication framework layered on a peer-to-peer Transport Control Protocol-based message passing architecture. Mechanisms for efficient implementation and control of information flow between simulated entities form part of the architecture. A lightweight base simulation object model is also employed to provide maximum modularity and extensibility while keeping complexity manageable. The simulation architecture evolved over time to allow for the efficient implementation of a system of systems, virtual simulation. It has been successfully applied in an air defence simulation as a decision support tool and for standard operating procedure concept evaluation.