Toward Human-in-the-loop Simulation Environment Human Behavior Model Interoperability

The modeling and simulation (M&S) community is witnessing a renewed surge of interest in the field of human behavior representation (HBR) and human behavior modeling. Successful employment of human behavior models within M&S environments requires usable, robust, flexible models and that the models possess the ability to integrate learning and self-explanatory capabilities. Note though that no matter how developmentally appropriate the current HBM research efforts might be, they lack a key ability: the capability to re-use the available human behavior models to the best advantage by allowing them to interoperate and thereby exchange performance information. This capability would help our current set of human behavior models to better cover the complete spectrum of human behaviors. To date, broad-scale, high fidelity human behavior modeling interoperability has not been an issue because most simulation environments demanded human behavior representations that need to cover only a narrow range of human behaviors. This situation is changing and requirements for increasingly accurate human behaviors across a wide range of behaviors are emerging within both the analytic and training M&S communities. In this paper we examine the state of human behavior modeling interoperability and present a approach for the development of interoperable human behavior models. This paper concentrates on defining the needs that must be addressed in order for human behavior models to be interoperable; experimental results await further work. There are two main classes of needs that must be addressed and that we have addressed to date; development of a standard language for transmitting human behavior state between different models and developing a standard for representing human behavior state. This paper presents suggested solutions to these requirements and our rationale for each proposed solution. We conclude the paper by providing recommendations concerning the next steps needed to advance the development of an interoperability capability that meets future military M&S needs in the human behavior modeling area.