TCDL - an expert system language for wargaming

• Published in: Proceedings of the 21st conference on Winter simulation pp. 1015 - 1021
• Main Authors: Sowers, J. L., Rubin, P. E.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY, USA ACM 01-10-1989
• Series: ACM Conferences
• Subjects: Applied computing > Computers in other domains > Military; Computing methodologies > Modeling and simulation; Networks > Network properties > Network range > Local area networks; Networks > Network properties > Network range > Wide area networks; Software and its engineering > Software notations and tools > Compilers; Software and its engineering > Software notations and tools > Context specific languages
• ISBN: 0911801588; 9780911801583
• DOI: 10.1145/76738.76868

This paper discusses the design and implementation of the Tactical Control Directive Language (TCDL). TCDL is a special-purpose language designed for use within the Enhanced Naval Warfare Gaming System (ENWGS). It was developed to support the concept of Tactical Control Directives (TCDs) and to allow their use within the wargaming model. A TCD is a possibly complex series of actions which simulate decisions made by a Naval officer in response to a specified situation. For example, an aircraft carrier detecting the presence of unknown aircraft will launch fighters and, dependent on the actions of the unknown aircraft, will execute a variety of possible responses. While this and other doctrines could easily be implemented by the ENWGS development team as part of the base software system, it is more desirable for the users of the wargaming system to be able to develop TCDs. TCDL provides a language in which users who are generally neither programmers nor simulationists can combine ENWGS low-level wargaming primitives and conditions into complex operations. This capability effectively extends the ENWGS user interface and may in turn be used to build even more complex operations. Since the introduction of TCDs into ENWGS, many of the air operations missions (Rubin and Sowers, 1988) have been implemented via TCDs.We discuss the features of the TCDL compiler and how the language constructs assist in the production of code that integrates into a larger body of existing software. Also discussed are the advantages of the rule-based language in this type of environment, along with implementation problems such as assigning priorities to the various rules by the compiler. Examples of the language are shown along with a discussion of how the wargaming simulation is affected.