Alignment of Army Integrated Core Data Model and Object Management Standards Category

Interoperability between Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) and Modeling & Simulation (M&S) systems is an unrealized goal with great potential. Interoperability can facilitate training, simulation-based acquisition, mission planning and rehearsal, and course of action development and analysis. Recent interoperability research has concentrated on general-purpose approaches that can provide standards and reuse across a wide range of systems. One important component of interoperability is data model alignment, the degree to which the data models of two systems use the same elements. This paper presents a rigorous definition of data model alignment and uses it to assess the degree of alignment between the Army Integrated Core Data Model (AICDM) and the standard objects defined by the Object Management Standards Category (OMSC), two important emerging standards in the C4I and M&S communities, respectively. This assessment is used to make recommendations on changes to each model that would promote interoperability. The conclusion is that the OMSC standard objects need considerable work to model C4I data.
The original document contains color images.