Title: TASC Component Architecture and Simulation Environment (TCASE)

Problem: Currently there is not a standardized Modeling and Simulation framework,
 and to easily interchange components one needs to be developed. 

Purpose: To create a Component Architecture and Simulation Environment to allow for
easy interchanging of models and sensors into a simulation.  It should be easy to
create a wrapper around existing models and sensors to place them into the framework
developed.  Intelligence groups and other organizations thats do a great deal of
modeling would be interested in the framework and the sensors/componenets already in
place.  It should be easy for them to implement their own sensors in the framework,
and run simulations.  EX: You have a sensor model (a camera for example) that you
want to place into a border crossing scenario, all you need to do is write a sensor
"wrapper" to allow it to interoperate with the framwork that already exists (the
framework providing Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and other services).

Scope of Study: Much of the framework is already in place/being developed, so far
the plans are for me to help add various sensors, and services to the framework.
(for example a matlab service that I've been working on).  I will also be modeling
at least one distinct scenario using some of the models/sensors/services I helped to
add to the framework.  I may also be working on the High Perfomance Computing (HPC)
part of the project if it becomes a priority, as I have experiance with cluster
services.

Background:  M&S have been a large topic in both the scientific and military
communties.  Most modeling and simulation applications are written for a specific
scenario, and when a new sort of scenario needs to be modeled, a new application
must be written (although a lot of code can be borrowed from the previous apps).
The goal of this project is to create a generic framework that will be able to adapt
to all scenarios and situations.

--Time table-- 
First week: 	* Bring the TCASE lab and servers to a usable state
	 		* Windows XP/SUSE 10 SLED on all 4 machines
			* Red Hat Server on the 2 server machines
			* DHCP/DNS/NTP/NFS so that you can use any machine without
                    transferring data around
Second week:	* JMATLINK/Matlab service for the framework
			* Implement JMATLINK as a standard Apache Tomcat service
			* Implement it in terms of the existing framwork so that other
	               components can make use of it
  		      * Help to bring the SPICE lab up to date and up to code
		      * Work on a threaded java ports server with Drew
Third week:	* Begin working on various models and sensors
			* Infared
			* Nighttime cameras
			* etc
		* Begin developing a scenario to model
			* Pick a location (and aquire GIS data for that locale)
			* Pick a senarios/sensors/models
		* Continue working on java threads and JMATLINK services 
Fourth week: 	* Begin to model my scenario and help with other sensors
Fifth week: 	* Modeling
		* HPC developement
Sixth week: 	* Modeling
		* HPC developement

Materials: * 7 computers (2 servers, 4 workstations, 1 laptop), lots of software
Languages:	Framework: Java
		Sensors: Java, C, C++, Perl, etc? (lang independent)
		Framework wrappers: Java
		Software: MATLAB, Globalmapper, GIS software, SPICE, etc
		Data: GIS, model, and sensor data        
        	Data testing: Scenario modeling
                            
Results:
	The result will be a functional framework for Northop Grummans TASC and its
costumers to develop simulations upon.  It will have a base set of services, models,
and sensors.  It will have a sensor planning tool to help determine the best layouts
of sensors across certain terrain.  Presentations can be in the form of live demos
and videos.  The framework will help future researchers and users to easily model
scenarios using new, existing, and proprietary models/sensors/applications. I would
like to continue to develop models and scenarios for Northop, and may possibly stay
on during the year.