John H. Christiansen

Simulation of Natural and Social Process Interactions

New multimodel simulations of Bronze Age Mesopotamian settlement system dynamics, using advanced object-based simulation frameworks, are addressing fine-scale interaction of natural processes (crop growth, hydrology, etc.) and social processes (kinship-driven behaviors, farming and herding practices, etc.) on a daily basis across multigenerational model runs. Key components of these simulations are representations of initial settlement populations that are demographically and socially plausible, and detailed models of social mechanisms that can produce and maintain realistic textures of social structure and dynamics over time. The simulation engine has broad applicability and is also being used to address modern problems such as agroeconomic sustainability in Southeast Asia. This article describes the simulation framework and presents results of initial studies, highlighting some social system representations.

Dynamic environmental effects model: a high-fidelity simulation system with dynamic environmental effects

The dynamic environmental effects model (DEEM) is a sophisticated software architecture used to determine the environmental impacts on military and civilian operations. DEEM is an instantiation of the more general architecture, the dynamic information architecture system (DIAS). DEEM is being used in a number of applications relevant to training, test support, and operational support and decision making in both the DOD and civilian communities. In one application, DEEM is being used to determine the impact of the environment on military operations, such as the trafficability and mobility of forces. DEEM is also being used as the software framework controlling a theater level weather forecast model for the US Sir Force. In another application DEEM has been used as a tool for resource analysis in a disaster relief study. In this paper, we summarize the key features of DEEM and give a number of examples of how it is being used to support military and civilian applications.

Modeling battlefield sensor environments with an object database management system

The Visual Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Simulation (VIEWS) Workbench software system has been developed by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to enable Army intelligence and electronic warfare (IEW) analysts at Unix workstations to conveniently build detailed IEW battlefield scenarios, or “sensor environments”, to drive the Armys high-resolution IEW sensor performance models. VIEWS is fully object-oriented, including the underlying database.

A Hyperspectral Image Data Exploration Workbench for Environmental Science Applications

The Hyperspectral Image Data Exploration Workbench (HIDEW) software system has been developed by Argonne National Laboratory to enable analysts at Unix workstations to conveniently access and manipulate high-resolution imagery data for analysis, mapping purposes, and input to environmental modeling applications. HIDEW is fully object-oriented, including the underlying database.