Closing the loop with the close action environment
Piantadosi, J., Anderssen, R.S. and Boland J. (eds) MODSIM2013, 20th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation · 2013
In this paper, I present the Close Action Environment (CAEn) Closed Loop (CAEnCL) wargame simulation that extends CAEn by adding a closed loop layer.An example of its use is presented to demonstrate the reactive branching ability of CAEnCL although the example is not based on a realistic military scenario.The CAEn simulated wargame is typically operated by human players in order to capture a real-time enacted Scheme of Manoeuvre (SoM).In military terms, the SoM defines a plan but a human-in-the-loop CAEn wargame only captures one enactment of the planned SoM.The captured SoM is usually replicated multiple times with different random seeds (which randomise many stochastic components of CAEn's models) to facilitate statistical comparisons between warfighting options under consideration.This approach introduces the potential for non-realistic actions by entities which are blindly following the captured SoM in the replicated simulation, and this inability to make reactive SoM changes limits the confidence that can be placed in the results from CAEn studies.For example, in the captured SoM, a tank may have been destroyed, causing the player to modify their SoM for the remainder of the wargame.However, later when the SoM is replicated, the tank was not destroyed in most replications but the decision to modify their strategy remains.CAEn Closed Loop (CAEnCL) was developed to address this problem and also enhance the tools currently available to scenario developers and experimenters.CAEnCL connects to a CAEn server and mimics a human player reacting to the current situation by executing pre-defined orders once their trigger requirements are met.Thus, CAEnCL extends CAEn and gives entities the ability to deviate from a generic SoM in response to situational changes.