Changing the way the industry builds simulations.
The FLexible Analysis, Modeling, and Exercise System (FLAMES®) is a family of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software products that provide a framework for custom constructive simulations and interfaces between live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) simulations. FLAMES dramatically reduces the time and money required to create extremely capable, easy-to-use simulations that satisfy your specific requirements and to modify your simulations as your requirements change.
As a true framework, FLAMES programs do not contain any software that simulates the behavior of real-world systems. All such software resides outside of FLAMES programs in component classes that you or others develop. Component classes are stored in component plug-in libraries that are loaded dynamically by FLAMES applications. By using FLAMES with the desired set of plug-ins, you can simulate almost any system in almost any scenario imaginable.
FLAMES saves time and money in the following ways:
- FLAMES reduces the amount of software that you need to develop. Well over half of the software required by any simulation is provided by FLAMES. You don’t need to develop it, test it, or maintain it.
- FLAMES reduces the amount of effort required to design, develop, maintain, and upgrade simulation-specific component classes. In addition, the FLAMES plug-in architecture completely eliminates the effort required to integrate new classes into a simulation.
- FLAMES allows component classes developed for one simulation to be reused easily in another simulation.
- FLAMES-based simulations are very easy to use and are loaded with many powerful capabilities. This makes simulation users much more productive and reduces the amount of effort required to get the results you desire.
The old development paradigm:
100% simulation-specific code.
Typical simulations are composed of 100% unique, simulation-specific code. Development efforts usually start from scratch, leading to high cost, long development time, and unreliability. The delivery is often insufficient simulation software that is difficult to use, functions incorrectly, lacks required features and has poor (if any) documentation. Additionally, the code for each simulation is unique so it can’t be reused in future simulations.
The FLAMES development paradigm:
of the code is provided by FLAMES.
Instead of starting from scratch, FLAMES allows you to build on an existing framework that is loaded with capabilities. In FLAMES-based simulations, the vast majority of the code is the same and is provided by FLAMES. This reduces the amount of simulation-specific code and minimizes the effort to design, develop, and maintain your simulations. In addition, software developed for one FLAMES-based simulation can be re-used easily in another FLAMES-based simulation.
FLAMES is loaded with advanced features that will help make you extremely productive in your modeling and simulation activities. Below is a list of some of the most useful built-in features.
Framework Architecture – The framework architecture of FLAMES easily supports almost any modeling and simulation requirement imaginable
Components – FLAMES supports components (models) of any type of system in any physical domain (land, sea, air, and space) at nearly any level of fidelity and resolution. FLAMES also supports human behavior modeling
Scenario Database – The scenario database stores and manages FLAMES scenario data and allows scenario data to be shared among multiple users and multiple scenarios
Interactive Simulation – Allows interactive control of scenario players from FORGE, FLASH, virtual simulators, and real-world command, control, and communications systems
Unreal Engine Integration – Combines almost any Unreal Engine-based 3D world with almost any FLAMES scenario
Multithreaded Execution – Multithreading executes a scenario more quickly by using two or more processors (or cores) of a computer
Scenario Visualization – Visualize scenario activity with animated, 2D graphical displays and high-resolution 3D displays
Terrain Modeling – FLAMES can use 3D terrain data available from multiple sources