Distributed Interactive Simulation Module

What is it?

The Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) protocol is an IEEE standard protocol allowing dissimilar simulations to exchange information over a network as each executes its respective scenarios. The FLAMES® DIS module allows simulations developed using FLAMES to support the DIS protocol and thereby communicate with other DIS-compatible simulations.

How does it work?

The main component of the FLAMES DIS module is a FLAMES service called the DIS Server. This service manages all communications with other DIS-compatible simulations, transmits all outgoing Protocol Data Units (PDUs), and routes all incoming PDUs to the appropriate software for processing.

In FORGE, the DIS module allows additional information to be entered as a part of the scenario definition that will specify how data will exchange with other simulations. During scenario execution, the DIS module also gives both FORGE and FIRE the ability to exchange data with other DIS-compatible simulations and to interpret the data received from other simulations.

To allow FLAMES to support multiple versions of DIS and to provide support for customized PDUs, the FLAMES DIS module is designed to be completely independent of the specific format and version of PDUs. PDU-independent processing is performed in the DIS Server, while PDU-specific processing occurs in PDU processors, each written for a specific type of PDU.

The FLAMES DIS module includes several example-PDU processors that provide support for the most commonly used PDUs and allows FLAMES-based simulations to participate in many DIS exercises without additional software development. With the DIS module development license, PDU processing can be customized and support for additional PDUs can be added.