Research Summaries

Back Evaluating and Improving the Representation of Degraded Communications in the USMC/Army Combined Arms Analysis Tool for the 21st Century (COMBATXXI)

Fiscal Year 2020
Division Research & Sponsored Programs
Department NPS Naval Research Program
Investigator(s) Balogh, Imre L.
Blais, Curtis L.
Sponsor NPS Naval Research Program (Navy)
Summary The Combined Arms Analysis Tool for the 21st Century (COMBATXXI) is one of the principal simulation tools used by Marine Corps analysts to support studies of future warfighting systems and capabilities. COMBATXXI is also an important element of NPS instruction in modeling and simulation, serving as an example of a complex simulation in operational use. COMBATXXI was developed jointly by and the USMC Operations Analysis Directorate Capabilities Development and Integration (OAD, CD&I) and the US Army Futures Command â¿¿The Research and Analysis Centerâ¿¿ (TRAC), White Sands Missile Range. Based on known and suspected threats to its tactical networks, Marine Corps analysts anticipate greater emphasis on these threats in future studies, raising the requirement to ensure capabilities of simulations such as COMBATXXI are able to meet such requirements. In discussions with OAD, it was agreed that the current state of the COMBATXXI communications model needs to be determined before the larger question of the effects of degraded communications on combat can be examined. Therefore, the objective of this broad area topic is to identify Marine Corps study requirements related to tactical communications and degraded communications, to examine existing COMBATXXI capabilities to represent and meet those requirements, to identify gaps between required capabilities and existing capabilities, and to recommend improvements to COMBATXXI to address the gaps. Through the process, the study will identify modeling approaches and capabilities that can inform other combat simulation design for analysis and other purposes, such as training or test and evaluation. The work will be conducted by laying out a conceptual model of battlefield commuications, performing detailed analysis of COMBATXXI design and code implementation, and determining what needs to be added to COMBATXXI. The study team will conduct quarterly in-progress reviews to keep the topic sponsor and technical review board organization informed on project progress and will deliver a technical report describing the approach, analysis, findings, and recommendations (to include any contributing student research) as well as the required NRP deliverables (executive summary and research poster).
Keywords Combat Simulation Communications modeling Tactical communications
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