STUDIES IN METHODOLOGY FOR COMPLEX SYSTEMS.

Abstract

The rapid defelopment of modern complex systems frequently leaves the necessary systems analysis methodology far behind. In an effort to develop the methodology, particularly as it applies to military systems, the following problems and topic areas were studied under Project NUMERICS: (1) a survey of the previous work of the Lanchester theory of combat revealed the present state of the art in this field and delineated a number of unsolved problems, (2) a study of continuous attrition processes, undertaken as a suitable stochastic approach to the analysis of battles between forces with homogeneous units, revealed that a zero-one law can be obtained for such processes; the results, under certain conditions, agree asymptotically with the corresponding results for the discrete analog. An investigation about diffusions satisfying the zero-one law, which holds for continuous attrition processes, yielded necessary and sufficient conditions in terms of their infinitesimal generators, (3) the problem of allocation of defense resources and effort was formulated in terms of search and queuing theories. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 14, 1964
Accession Number
AD0601935

Entities

People

  • Alberto R. Galmarino
  • Ladislav Dolansky
  • Samuel M. Giveen

Organizations

  • Northeastern University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Attrition
  • Complex Systems
  • Diffusion
  • Generators
  • Interdisciplinary Science
  • Systems Analysis

Readers

  • Mathematical Modeling and Probability Theory.
  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Systems Analysis and Design