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The DEDS; DSTO's Environmental Data Server for Research Application

Traditionally, simulations requiring environmental data have relied on idealised repre—
sentations of the physical world because access to realistic modelling has been difficult to
obtain and prohibitively expensive. However, low—cost data storage and computing,
together with the increasing availability of public sources of geospatial and meteorological
data, now offer the opportunity to economically incorporate high—fidelity environmental
data in simulation products.

The authors have recognised a myriad of requirements across DSTO for environmental
data and, with sponsorship from the Australian Defence Simulation Office, have de—
veloped a software framework to efficiently and inexpensively serve such data for a
variety of end—uses. The framework, implemented in the DSTO Environmental—Data
Server (DEDS) software, includes facilities for distributed data warehousing and
scheduled retrieval of published source data. Post—processing for data—format conversions,
application of higher—resolution models, and statistical analysis is also incorporated. An
application programming interface permits other simulations, such as flight simulators, to
communicate directly with the server to obtain streamed data; and web—based interfaces
are provided to end—users for retrieval and previewing, as well as providing a system—
administration capability.

The development of the DEDS was motivated by the need to provide rapid access to high-
fidelity environmental models for DSTO programs and does not replace the operational
weather forecasting service provided by the Bureau of Meteorology to the Australian
Defence Force.

The chief outcomes of the project address several of the goals set forth in the 2011 Defence
Simulation Strategy and Roadmap. The DEDS provides a source of environmental data and a
robust interface, both of which are useable in multiple simulations. The DEDS software
and stored environmental data give DSTO secure access to quality data to support
simulations and permit standardisation of the manner in which environmental data is
supplied. It is anticipated that other members of the Defence simulation community will
be attracted to the functionality of the DEDS for this reason and because of its low cost,
ease of use, and the inherently high level of verification and validation of the source data
and models.

The DEDS has already been used within DSTO to contribute to several research outcomes
for Defence, covering such areas as plume modelling and hazard assessment, aircraft
performance analysis, and aircraft incident and accident investigation. The data and
models have proven to be of high quality and fit for purpose.