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 Dr.
Mary Ann Cummings won the 2016 Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA)
Scientist of the Year Award for an innovation that prepares
warfighters for the unexpected.
The powerful and patented
software – called Orchestrated Simulation through Modeling (OSM) –
is now available for free to the Department of Defense.
“Although this award was given to me, it really belongs to my team,”
said Cummings. “I may have been the team lead but it was their
knowledge and software skills that made OSM a reality.”
OSM
has already simulated myriads of warfare scenarios in exercises over
the past year.
“It was my vision to create war games for
Fleet operators before a Fleet exercise,” said Cummings. “We can
create simulations that show what could happen and take data from an
exercise to show how that exercise might play out as a real event.”
Cummings and her Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division
(NSWCDD) team embarked aboard warships – including the Nimitz-class
nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and the
guided-missile destroyer USS Bulkley (DDG 84) – during exercises to
ensure Sailors were prepared for potential outcomes that could play
out as real events.
“What an amazing experience,” said
Cummings, recounting her 11-days at sea aboard Reagan with another
NSWCDD scientist for the Valiant Shield exercise in September 2016.
Nine surface ships, 180 Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps
aircraft, and 18,000 warfighters were engaged in the exercise. In
addition to the Reagan strike group, Valiant Shield included an
expeditionary strike group, a Marine Air-Ground Task Force, and Air
Force aggressor and bomber squadrons.
“We used the OSM framework during the exercise to provide Sailors
with a powerful tool for warfare simulations and more realistic
at-sea training,” said Cummings.
It’s powerful because
Cummings used the Discrete Event System Specification formalism
pioneered by Dr. Bernard Zeigler, to create a framework architecture
that enabled the evolutionary building of Simple Operating System
simulations.
“Her approach enables any organization to
develop required software components independently and to plug-in
those pieces into an overarching framework so that the various
components can receive, share and output needed data and
information,” explained the NSWCDD commanding officer’s nomination
of Cummings for the NAVSEA Scientist of the Year Award.
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September 15, 2016 - Sailors maneuver an F/A-18E Super Hornet on the
flight deck of the Navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS
Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) during Valiant Shield 2016. Naval Surface
Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) scientist Dr. Mary Ann
Cummings - who won the 2016 Naval Sea Systems Command Scientist of
the Year Award - used her innovation called Orchestrated Simulation
through Modeling (OSM) while embarked on the Reagan throughout
Valiant Shield. "We used the OSM framework during the exercise to
provide Sailors with a powerful tool for warfare simulations and
more realistic at-sea training," said Cummings, adding that the
patented technology is available to Department of Defense personnel
for military programs and exercises. (Photo by U.S. Navy photo by
Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Burke)
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This “plug-in” capability enables highly functional
system of systems modeling and simulation.
“Dr.
Cummings and her team have matured a science and technology
concept into a powerful, executable modeling and simulation
framework that can incorporate many systems into a system of
systems,” the nomination stated. “This patented product
fosters government software reuse, increases flexibility and
interoperability while reducing cost and schedule for Navy
programs by providing a highly functional solution to a
complicated problem.”
The Orchestrated Simulation
through Modeling work was the basis of Cummings’ research
for a doctorate in software engineering she earned from the
Naval Postgraduate School in 2015.
By John Joyce
Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2017
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