The Computer Hangar

The United States military has never been shy about exploiting avenues for technological advancement, so it's probably not a shock to anyone that the government actively funds efforts to increase Department of Defense use of the most current and important computational capabilities. One of the latest additions to the DoD's impressive collection of computer facilities is the Simulation and Analysis Facility (SIMAF) as part of the Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) in Dayton, OH.

This new facility was designed and built with and eye toward allowing those responsible for Air Force acquisitions to take advantage of available and developing computational simulation technology. In particular scientists at SIMAF will be able to model airplanes and other aeronautical systems to a highly realistic degree BEFORE they are actually built. This "War Games" idea may seem fairly futuristic to those not currently involved in the simulation field, but the government obviously feels that there is enough promise here to funnel significant funding to the project. Of course, the potential savings to be gleened from reducing the development and testing to the computer (rather than the lab) for every possible aircraft are enormous, both in dollars and in man hours.

In addition to the obvious savings that could result from a successful simulation-based acquisition for the DoD, it's quite possible that such a set-up could significantly accelerate research in many of the sub-fields involved in getting producing a viable ship. It should be much more convenient for universities, private sector companies, and other government agencies to collaborate on projects at SIMAF than for traditional lab-based activities. It's quite simple, for example, for a group of geographically-distributed researchers to collaborate on the development and testing of the same simulation code without investing much face-to-face time (or money in travel!). Such an arrangement would be nearly impossible if the same group of people were trying to build a house or a real airplane.

In the coming weeks, we'll take a look at some of the specifics of the new SIMAF facility, starting with an overview of its computer resources. Until then, more information can be seen at ASC's web site :

http://www.asc.hpc.mil/overall/press_rel...

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