A survey on distributed simulation in industry

Abstract

Distributed simulation is used very little in industry, especially when compared with the interest in distributed simulation from research and from the military domain. In order to answer the question why industry lags behind, the authors have carried out an extensive survey, namely a questionnaire targeted at vendors of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) simulation packages and a series of open-ended interviews with experts on distributed simulation. Analysis of the answers obtained establish that it is indeed the case that industry is relatively underdeveloped in the area of distributed simulation and also sheds light on the reasons behind this. A categorization of these responses is given using which it is possible to formulate clear guidelines for further developments of standards for distributed simulation.