Use of HLA federation for the evaluation of naval operations in ship design

Abstract

Simulation, physic based analysis, computational calculations has been largely used since long time in ship design process but an exhaustive evaluation of ship’s performances and capabilities is unlikely to be done in the early design phase. In this sense a proper simulation tool can be a valuable solution, giving the possibility to test and validate a wide range of naval operations’ procedures in different environmental conditions. Usually these operations involve more entities than the single ship, so it becomes important to arrange a synthetic environment in which different simulators and simulations can cooperate for demonstrating complex operations. Besides this, the “system of systems” approach finds its applicability in the naval field where a warship can be represented as the cooperation of several subsystems. HLA distributed simulations represent a good solution for creating and simulating complex scenarios, allowing several simulators and partners to work together just exchanging inputs and outputs, but keeping safe intellectual properties rights. Experiences in using this framework either in a single company or with multiple companies scenario are presented. CETENA’s experience in using its HLA based simulator for the development of complex interactive man-in-the-loop federations to evaluate operations like Replenishment At Sea, Landing Craft maneuverability, Vertical Take Off and Landing, Small Craft Launch and Recovery, is presented in this paper.