Operational-level naval planning using agent-based simulation

Abstract

This thesis uses agent-based modeling techniques to develop a simulation of the operational-level naval planning process. The simulation serves as an initial exploratory laboratory for analyzing the consequences of the force allocation, force deployment, and force movement decisions made by operational-level naval commanders during times of conflict or crisis. This model will hopefully help decision-makers in gaining insight into the naval planning process and enable them to make more informed decisions in the future. The agents in the model represent the opponent operational-level naval commanders. These agents perform force allocation, force deployment, and force movement tasks based on their perceived environment, attributes, and movement personalities. There are seven naval platform types represented in the model by default, but any type of naval platform can be added to the simulation. An integrated graphical user interface enables the user to instantiate agent and platform attributes, set simulation parameters, and analyze statistical output. The resulting model demonstrates the ability of the agent-based modeling to capture many dynamic aspects of the operational-level naval planning process. It establishes an initial simulation tool to further explore the operational-level naval planning process.