ALSP consists of: In 1990, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) employed The MITRE Corporation to study the application of distributed interactive simulation principles employed in SIMNET to aggregate-level constructive training simulations.
The success of the prototype and users' recognition of the value of this technology to the training community led to development of production software.
The first ALSP confederation, providing air-ground interactions between CBS and AWSIM, supported three major exercises in 1992.
By 1995, ALSP had transitioned to a multi-Service program with simulations representing the US Army (CBS), the US Air Force (AWSIM), the US Navy (RESA), the US Marine Corps (MTWS), electronic warfare (JECEWSI), logistics (CSSTSS), and intelligence (TACSIM).
In 1989, the Warrior Preparation Center (WPC) in Einsiedlerhof, Germany hosted the computerized military exercise ACE-89.
Its packetized video teleconferencing brought general officers of NATO nations face-to-face during a military exercise for the first time; this was well received.
But the software application of DSI, distribution of Ground Warfare Simulation (GRWSIM), was less successful.
The GRWSIM simulation was unreliable and its distributed database was inconsistent, degrading the effectiveness of the exercise.
DARPA was funding development of a distributed tank trainer system called SIMNET where individual, computerized, tank-crew trainers were connected over local area networks and the DSI to cooperate in a single, virtual battlefield.
The success of SIMNET, the disappointment of ACE-89, and the desire to combine existing combat simulations prompted DARPA to initiate research that lead to ALSP.
DARPA sponsored the design of a general interface between large, existing, aggregate-level combat simulations.
[2] Common conceptual frameworks include: event scheduling, activity scanning and process interaction.
The ALSP conceptual framework is object-based where a model is composed of objects that are characterized by attributes to which values are assigned.
The first strategy requires few perturbations to existing simulations; interaction is facilitated entirely through the interconnection infrastructure.
The object-based conceptual framework adopted by ALSP defines classes of information that must be distributed.
The ALSP Infrastructure Software (AIS) provides data distribution and process coordination.
For any object class, attributes may be members of Information flow across the network can be further restricted through filters.
Filtering provides discrimination by (1) object class, (2) attribute value or range, and (3) geographic location.
Therefore, the syntactical representation of the simulation protocol may be defined without a priori knowledge of the semantics of the objects and interactions of any particular confederation.
A primary function of the object management protocol is to ensure that a simulation only updates attributes for which it has acquired a lock.
Services provided by the simulation/ACM protocol are used by the simulations to interact with the ACM's attribute locking mechanism.
[5] The EDP allows ACMs to inform the other AIS components about the update and interaction filters registered by their simulations.