Software testing toolkit for distributed simulations

Abstract

This thesis discusses the need for and design of a software toolkit to monitor Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) network performance. Plans to merge virtual environment and wargaming simulations into combined exercises will have significant performance effects on existing networks, but the tools to quantify the impact are lacking. Given the need for performance measurement tools, the network environment is described and two software development methods, Motif and Tc1/Tk, are considered. The merits of Tc1/Tk, including extensibility to access DIS networks and ease of application development, resulted in a programming environment well-suited for this requirement. The network toolkit design is presented, including the required modifications to Tc1/Tk. Areas for future research include using the PDU Monitor and the Tc1/Tk application, and expanding their capabilities.