Defence Standard 03-50

Issue 02

Date: 26 July 2013

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DTEC Modelling and Simulation (M&S)

Standards Profile (DMSP)
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DEF STAN 03-50 Issue 2

Contents
Foreword ..........................................................................................................................................................iii
0

Introduction .........................................................................................................................................iv

Scope ....................................................................................................................................................6

Warning.................................................................................................................................................6

Normative References .........................................................................................................................6

Definitions.............................................................................................................................................7

Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................................7

(DMSP) Objective .................................................................................................................................7

(DMSP) Management ...........................................................................................................................9

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DEF STAN 03-50 Issue 2

Foreword
AMENDMENT RECORD
Amd No.

Date

Text Affected

Signature and Date

REVISION NOTE
Update the DTEC content.
HISTORICAL RECORD
This standard supersedes issue 1.
a)

This standard provides an introduction to the importance of, and guidance in the selection of, standards
in Modelling and Simulation (M&S) for the acquisition, development and management of training
systems across Defence.

b)

This standard has been produced on behalf of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) by the Defence Training
Systems and Infrastructure Programme Support Office.

c)

This standard has been agreed by the authorities concerned with its use and is intended to be used
whenever relevant in all future designs, contracts, orders etc. and whenever practicable by amendment
to those already in existence. If any difficulty arises which prevents application of the Defence Standard,
DStan shall be informed so that a remedy may be sought.

d)

Please address any enquiries regarding this standard, whether in relation to an invitation to tender or to
a contract in which it is incorporated, to the responsible technical or supervising authority named in the
invitation to tender or contract.

e)

Compliance with this Defence Standard shall not in itself relieve any person from any legal obligations
imposed upon them.

f)

This standard has been devised solely for the use of the MOD and its contractors in the execution of
contracts for the MOD. To the extent permitted by law, the MOD hereby excludes all liability whatsoever
and howsoever arising (including, but without limitation, liability resulting from negligence) for any loss
or damage however caused when the standard is used for any other purpose.

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Introduction

0.1

Background

0.1.1
The Defence Training Systems and Infrastructure (DTSI) Programme was created as the direct
result of the 2010 SDSR which stated that Defence should embrace a step change in its exploitation of
modern simulation training systems. DTSI was superseded by DTEC in May 2013.
0.1.2
The DTEC vision is to enable the preparation of UK Armed Forces to meet operational needs in an
optimum, agile, adaptable, effective and efficient manner via the use of common architectures, open
systems, common data-packs and operational scenarios.
0.1.3
In support of the DTEC Programme and its vision, the DTEC Modelling and Simulation (M&S)
Standards Profile (DMSP) provides an introduction to the importance of, and guidance in the selection of,
standards in M&S for the acquisition, development and management of training systems across defence. It
is intended to cover all M&S standards of relevance to DTEC and is designed to provide benefit to the MOD,
Industry and Academia. It is not intended to provide implementation guidance which is deemed project
business.
0.1.4
The DMSP is a living document to reflect that M&S standards are continually maintained and
developed. For this reason and to minimise DMSP maintenance requirements, version or issue numbers of
standards are not included. The assumption therefore is that the latest approved version of each standard is
selected.
0.1.5
Current policy, through the MOD Simulation Strategy, calls for the use of open standards and the
avoidance of proprietary standards. Although it is not always possible to achieve this directly, those
proprietary standards that are chosen must be common or de facto standards such that they can be opened
and converted by a suitable array of COTS tools. In order to add clarity to this statement, any unapproved
modification or enhancement to an open standard results in the creation of a proprietary standard and
therefore its use is to be avoided.
0.1.6
A NATO M&S standards profile (NMSSP)1, also known as Allied M&S Publication 01 (AMSP-01),
has been created and is being maintained by the NATO Modelling & Simulation Group (NMSG) to provide
guidance on the selection and use of M&S standards to promote and foster interoperability and reuse. The
NMSSP also informs NATO M&S stakeholders on new and emerging standards and can be described as an
informative rather than prescriptive document. The DMSP is a sub-set of the NMSSP tailored to suit the UK.

0.2

Types of M&S Standards Covered and Definitions

0.2.1
Standards that can be defined as providing a measurement or value are included in the DMSP.
Conversely, excluded from the DMSP are commercial or government-owned products that are in large use
and sometimes improperly called standards - an example of something that does not meet the inclusion
criteria could be a particular COTS virtual simulation that is widely used in the MOD.
0.2.2
There are four main types of standard that are covered by the DMSP but the definitions are not
necessarily mutually exclusive. Standards can be described as follows:

a)
Official - Official standards are developed by Standards Development Organisations (SDOs) with
legal and recognised standing such as the International Standards Organisation (ISO), the Institute of
Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) or the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organisation (SISO).
The majority of M&S standards described in this profile are official standards.

1 AMSP-01 (NMSSP) available at http://www.nato.int/docu/stanag/amsp/AMSP-01.pdf

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b)
De Facto - De facto (in practice) standards are those that are commonly used but are not official.
They mainly originate from industry and their use has been expanded into the wider M&S community for
practical reasons. A good example of a de facto standard is OpenFlight which is very common.
c)
Open - Open standards are developed by a SDO to which membership is open, and the standard is
available to the public for developing compliant products (with or without some license fee). They are not
controlled by a single vendor. The use of Open standards in a user application should be free and without
restrictions and the necessary documentation should be available on fair and equitable terms. The key points
which qualify standards openness are:
1)

Membership to the developing organisation is sufficiently open, thus allowing users to

influence the development of standards,

2)

Public availability of the standard once it is completed,

3)

Possibility to use it free of charge for any purpose.

d)
Proprietary - Privately owned standards that are controlled by one company. When a proprietary
standard is widely used, it becomes a de facto standard even though it is not governed by a SDO.

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DEF STAN 03-50 Issue 2

DTEC Modelling and Simulation (M&S) Standards Profile (DMSP)

1

Scope

1.1

This Defence Standard specifies that the DMSP shall be used as a guide for the selection of
standards and as such the DMSP will assist the MOD and the supporting simulation industry to efficiently
achieve the goals of the MOD Simulation Strategy and appropriate governance as set by the DTEC
Programme. It will be included within the MODs Acquisition Operating Framework (AOF).

1.2
Achievement of this strategy will require interoperability of simulations and compatibility of the
representation of the synthetic environments. The broad adoption of distributed simulation standards and
representation standards will be necessary to achieve this aim.
1.3

Compliance with specified simulation engineering and simulation management standards will be a
necessity for the effective supply and exchange of technology, tools and products. This is required if Defence
is to address its strategic goals as set out by the DTEC Capability Programme.

1.4

As a general rule, standards chosen for the DMSP will ultimately be open; created and supported
by the simulation community; proprietary standards are to be avoided wherever possible. Therefore it
follows that if Industry is not content with a standard chosen for reasons relating to its content or operation,
they have the ability to get involved with the M&S standards community and modify that standard.

Warning

The Ministry of Defence (MOD), like its contractors, is subject to both United Kingdom and European laws
regarding Health and Safety at Work. Many Defence Standards set out processes and procedures that could
be injurious to health if adequate precautions are not taken. Adherence to those processes and procedures
in no way absolves users from complying with legal requirements relating to Health and Safety at Work.

Normative References

3.1

The publications shown below are referred to in the text of this standard. Publications are grouped and
listed in alpha-numeric order.
AMSP-01

NATO Modelling and Simulation Standards Profile

JSP 906

Design Principles for Coherent Capability

The DMSP

The Defence Training Systems and Infrastructure (DTEC) Modelling and Simulation
(M&S) Standards Profile (DMSP)

3.2

Reference in this Standard to any normative references means in any Invitation to Tender or contract
the edition and all amendments current at the date of such tender or contract unless a specific edition is
indicated. For some standards the most recent editions shall always apply due to safety and regulatory
requirements. Examples of these are Flight Order AvP 67 and Statutory Instruments (SIs).

3.3 In consideration of clause 3.2 above, users shall be fully aware of the issue, amendment status and
application of all normative references, particularly when forming part of an Invitation to Tender or contract.
Responsibility for the correct application of standards rests with users.
3.4

DStan can advise regarding where to obtain normative referenced documents. Requests for such
information can be made to the DStan Helpdesk. Details of how to contact the helpdesk are shown on the
outside rear cover of Defence Standards.

DEF STAN 03-50 Issue 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
a) M&S Interoperability. The ability of a model or simulation to provide data to, or accept data from, other
models or simulations in such a manner as to enable them to meaningfully operate together with an
acceptable degree of fidelity.
b) Synthetic Natural Environment (SNE). A data representation of the natural physical environment in a
specific part of the world.

Abbreviations

Amd

Amendment

AMSP

Allied M&S Standards Publication

BS

British Standard

CM

Conceptual Modelling

Def Stan

Defence Standard

DMSP

Defence M&S Standards Profile

DStan

UK Defence Standardization

DTEC

Defence Training & Education Capability

DTSI

Defence Training Systems & Infrastructure

IEEE

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers

ISO

International Standards Organisation

JSP

Joint Service Publication

MOD

Ministry of Defence

NMSG

NATO Modelling & Simulation Group

NMSSP

NATO Modelling & Simulation Standards Profile

M&S

Modelling & Simulation

SDO

Standards Development Organisation

SDSR

Strategic Defence and Security Review

SISO

Simulation Interoperability Standards Organisation

SNE

Synthetic Natural Environment

UK

United Kingdom

VVA

Verification, Validation, Accreditation

(DMSP) Objective

6.1

In order to create a working synergy, the prescriptive DMSP is designed to be aligned to the
NMSSP yet tailored and enhanced where necessary to suit the specific requirements of the MOD and to
promote interoperability to a greater extent. Therefore the DMSP may contain a small number of standards
not listed in the NMSSP to include UK specific variants or further clarification.

6.2

In keeping with the format and content of the NMSSP and to promote synergy between it and this
DMSP, standards and recommended practices in this document are classified in the following categories:

a)

M&S methodology, architecture and processes in the following sub-categories:

DEF STAN 03-50 Issue 2

1)
Architecture frameworks This subcategory contains standards that govern high-level
development of systems, typically at the enterprise level. Such standards are typically very general
and not specific to M&S system development, although they are still applicable,
2)
Systems Engineering processes - This subcategory includes both generic and M&S-specific
systems engineering processes, which typically describe the steps that must be followed in order to
successfully develop a system.
3)
Verification and Validation V&V is a key issue because they ensure that M&S systems are
built according to specification, fit for their intended use, and documented accordingly. Note that
V&V is not a unique acronym in this area; VV&A, which stands for Verification, Validation and
Accreditation (or Acceptance) is also widely used.
b)
Conceptual modelling and scenarios - Conceptual modelling (CM) is the translation of the user
requirements into formal statements that are understandable by both humans and machines. There are yet
no CM-specific standards but some software engineering standards are used. The purpose of scenario
standards is to enable the exchange, archiving and reuse of scenarios by describing them using
standardized means.

c)
M&S interoperability - This category contains standards that support the development and
execution of distributed M&S systems, and support the reusability of artefacts when combined with other
systems that are compliant with the same standards.
d)
Information exchange data model - Data needs to be exchanged between components of
distributed simulation systems and the structure of the data (number of fields in a message, number of bytes
per value, etc.) needs to be specified.
e)
Software engineering - Many software engineering standards have been adopted by the M&S
community because simulation systems depend so heavily on software. Such standards cover a very wide
range of issues from software development methodologies, programming languages, data formats, etc.
f)
Synthetic Natural Environments (SNEs) - The development, archiving and reuse of terrain or
visual databases is a very important part and a significant cost driver of M&S systems. Database
development is a complex process and the interoperability of environmental databases is also a key issue.
Many de facto standards are in use and official standards are few or just emerging.
For clarity and ease of use, SNE standards have been categorised in the following manner:
1) General for standards that are very flexible and do not predefine how environments are to be
modelled.
2) Data sources and formats for standards that define the organization of structured data.
3) Imagery & 3D models for standards that define how two-dimensional images and three
dimensional entities are to be stored.
4) Interchange of environmental data for standards that define how two-dimensional images and
three dimensional entities are to be stored.
5) Production processes for standards that define how environmental data is to be produced.
6) Visualisation for standards that define how environmental data is to be produced.
7) Simulation analysis and evaluation intended to include standards that define how simulation
data is captured at run-time and processed afterwards for analysis purposes.
8) E-Learning for standards that apply to the computer and network-enabled transfer of skills and
knowledge.

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(DMSP) Management

7.1

Policy

The DTEC Programme Support Office (PSO) is the delegated owner and manager of the DMSP Defence
Standard which points directly to the DMSP itself which is a separate living document. The DMSP depends
entirely on the invaluable contributions from DSTL, Industry and Academia to review and maintain current
content and potential new inclusions. The DTEC PSO shall authorize all content and change on the DMSP
through full consultation and consensus across MOD, DSTL, Industry and Academia.

7.2

Adoption and Application

7.2.1 In accordance with guidelines provided by JSP 906 (Design Principles for Coherent Capability), M&S
standards selected for use within the MOD shall be amongst those open and common standards listed in the
DMSP. Bespoke or proprietary standards are to be avoided.
7.2.2 M&S standards selected from the DMSP shall not be tailored, enhanced, extended, adapted or
customised in any way or they will be deemed as being bespoke or proprietary standards. It should be noted
that the Authority reserves the right to conduct compliancy testing against selected standards.

7.3

Sponsorship

HOC JTES is the sponsor for the DSMP Def Stan. It is the sponsors responsibility to ensure that when
review and revision is undertaken, that the standard reflects best practice, current technologies and health
and safety legislation.

7.4

Standard Development and Maintenance Process

The DMSP itself is to be reviewed at least annually; Terms of Reference to manage the DMSP reflect this
and have been agreed with Academia and Industry. Those involved in the maintenance of the DMSP
defence standard shall;
a)

Ensure that the contents of the DMSP are current;

b)

Ensure that the contents of the DMSP are open (in preference) and common M&S standards
avoiding the inclusion of bespoke or proprietary standards;

c)

Ensure that Industry and Academia as well as the various areas of the MOD have the chance to
comment;

d)

Consider obsolescence and cancellation issues.

7.5

Distribution

With the aim of the DMSP to promote interoperability, and as approved by the sponsor, the DMSP Def Stan
is freely available from DStan for all Government departments, Industry and Academia. The DMSP is
UNCLASSIFIED.

Crown Copyright 2013

Copying Only as Agreed with DStan
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The DStan file reference relating to work on this standard is 23/50
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obligations.
Revision of Defence Standards
Defence Standards are revised as necessary by an up issue or amendment. It is important
that users of Defence Standards should ascertain that they are in possession of the latest
issue or amendment. Information on all Defence Standards can be found on the DStan
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encounters an inaccuracy or ambiguity is requested to notify UK Defence Standardization
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