Cost Effective VV&A: Five Prerequisites
Abstract
Recent requirements to establish the credibility of the models and simulations (M&S) that are used in Department of Defense (DoD) applications have resulted in the development of several approaches to M&S credibility assessment. Each of these approaches attempts to integrate verification and validation (V&V) activities into a formal process whose products (hopefully) support M&S accreditation. The cost of 'VV&A' activities has not typically been a driving factor in the development of these processes however and their independent and fragmentary development has tended to result in 'point-solution' approaches to the problem of cost-effectiveness. Despite their diversity however many VV&A processes share features in common suggesting that it may be possible to identify the essential elements of cost-effective VV&A. This paper proposes five 'common sense' elements of cost-effective VV&A and describes how each of these elements can contribute to the cost-effectiveness of VV&A processes in general. A comparative analysis of six VV&A processes currently in use to support M&S accreditation for a wide variety of DoD applications is then presented. The analysis reveals that the five elements proposed as essential to cost-effective VV&A do in fact characterize in whole or in substantial part all of the VV&A processes considered. The paper concludes by considering some of the evaluative implications of these findings.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA405131
Entities
People
- D. R. Laack
- P. R. Muessig
Organizations
- Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division