Discovery and Reuse of Modeling and Simulation Assets / Paper 10S-SIW-048

Abstract

The ability to discover existing modeling and simulation (M&S) assets is a critical need for enabling effective reuse and for reducing the duplication of capabilities. Such visibility and accessibility is key to optimizing the investment of the estimated billions of dollars spent on M&S within the Department of Defense (DoD). This paper updates the status of work presented at the SISO 2009 Spring SIW (09S-SIW-076). The DoD M&S Community of Interest (COI) Discovery Metadata Specification (MSC-DMS) version 1.2.1, which provides a common mechanism to catalog a wide variety of M&S resources as metacards, is now publicly available through the DoD Metadata Registry. A formal process has been established to coordinate the MSC-DMS and the closely related specification used by the DoD M&S Catalog. The M&S Catalog provides a common portal with connection to various M&S related repository sources, and is expected to be declared operational in early 2010. In addition, the M&S Catalog will be federated with the DoD Enterprise Catalog, and publish-and-subscribe mechanisms using DoD Net-Centric Enterprise Services (NCES) will be developed. Tools will be developed and technical assistance provided to help sources map their existing data structures to the MSC-DMS, to generate conformant XML-formatted metadata, and to submit the metadata to the M&S Catalog (or any other authorized subscriber). Potential sources of metadata are encouraged to contact the authors.