Simulation Fidelity Theory and Practice

Simulation fidelity is an intrinsic element of any simulation system, one that all its developers and users have to deal with one way or the other. It is commonly recognized by the modeling and simulation community that simulation fidelity is an essential vehicle in properly assessing the validity and credibility of simulation results. Furthermore, fidelity is one of the main cost-drives of any model or simulation development. Rigorous assessment of fidelity is, however, one of the most difficult and hard to grasp issues within the model and simulation community. Substantial and exhaustive research endeavors in this area are very limited. Due to this, simulation fidelity still remains a hardly touched upon and rather uncultivated area. This thesis tries to fill this void by the analysis, extension and integration of existing simulation fidelity approaches into a single unified fidelity theory and practice. All this is done from a general simulation system life cycle perspective, not limited by any specific application or problem domain aspects. The foundation for this developed unified fidelity framework comprises a precise mathematical formulation for fidelity and the fundamental concepts underlying its characterization and measurement. The unified fidelity framework is completed with a fidelity management process model outlining a series of generic stages, activities and tasks, which together provide a structured but generic approach to properly integrate and apply all other unified fidelity framework elements in the simulation system development and validation process.Aerospace Engineerin

The GM-VV: It’s Relationship to the VV&A Overlay for the FEDEP

The Generic Methodology for Verification and Validation (GM-VV) is a generic methodology for VV&A to justify the acceptability of models, simulation, underlying data and results for an intended use. This methodology is currently in the processes of standardization within the SISO. The GM-VV attains its genericness from a framework approach, instead of trying to cover or merge all possible and existing VV&A methods into a single “one-size-fits-all” VV&A method implementation. This means that the GM-VV is not prescriptive in nature, nor directly tied to any specific M&S application domain, standard, technology, organization or other distinctive M&S context related implementation details for VV&A. The GM-VV’s technical framework provides common semantics, concepts and tailorable building blocks for VV&A, which aims to facilitate communication, understanding and implementation of VV&A across and between such different M&S contexts. Moreover, this framework also provides the tailoring principles and guidance to cost-efficiently develop and apply VV&A method instantiations from its technical framework, which support the individual M&S organization, project, technology or application domain needs and constrains. This paper demonstrates how the existing VV&A overlay to the FEDEP can be derived from the GM-VV. The illustration shows the mapping between the VV&A overlay terminology, definitions and concepts, and the generic ones provided by the GM-VV technical framework. The presented detailed mappings of the VV&A overlay roles, processes and products onto the GM-VV generic building blocks illustrates the tailoring of the GM-VV towards a VV&A method instance that fits a specific M&S technology (i.e. FEDEP). As such the paper provides readers with an educational example to help understand the GM-VV purpose, usage and relationship to other VV&A standards

Towards a Generic Information Data Model for Verification, Validation & Accreditation VV&A

The Generic Methodology for Verification, Validation and Acceptance (GM-VV) is intended to provide a common generic framework for making formal and well balanced acceptance decisions on a specific usage of models, simulations and data. GM-VV will offer the international M&S community with a Verification, Validation (VV) and Acceptance methodology that consistently embraces a wide variety of M&S technologies and application domains. The GM-VV builds upon a triad of three pillars; the products, the organization and process pillar. At the centre of the products pillar stands the GM-VV data information model. The GM-VV data information model is the structural model for the GM-VV project memory approach. This project memory not only stores the GM-VV core products but also serve as the data and information source for generating these products. In this paper the formal specification of the GM-VV data information model and its underlying principles, concepts and methods are presented. The paper shows how this model is used in the GM-VV project memory approach to produce the core GM-VV products being: the acceptance plan, the verification & validation plan, the evidence, the verification &validation report, and the acceptance report