1. SEDRIS Standards and Products Development
30 Mar 2000
Dr. Paul A. Birkel
Farid Mamaghani

2. Outline SEDRIS Standards Development Objectives
The ISO/IEC SEDRIS-related Standards
Participating in ISO/IEC Standards Development
The SISO SEDRIS-related Products
Value to SISO and M&S Community
SISO/ISO Development
Status
Relationships
PDG Process
Schedule

3. SEDRIS Standards Development Objectives
Document SEDRIS technologies in the form of recognized standards
Obtain review, feedback, and input from the broader international and M&S communities
Establish international standards based on SEDRIS technologies
Promote the software implementation of broad-reaching SEDRIS technologies as the commonly used stand-alone software modules within the M&S community, e.g.:
The software library for the Spatial Reference Model (SRM)
The data dictionary database for the Environmental Data Coding Specification (EDCS)

4. SEDRIS ISO/IEC Standards
ISO/IEC (International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission) was selected as the path for development of SEDRIS specification standards
Currently four SEDRIS-related specification standards are in development:
SEDRIS
SEDRIS Language Bindings
Environmental Data Coding Specification (EDCS)
Spatial Reference Model (SRM)
Two additional standards are being nominated:
EDCS Language Bindings
SRM Language Bindings

5. Four SEDRIS ISO/IEC Standards
1. WD 18023: SEDRIS – a multi-part standard with the following initial parts:
Part 1: SEDRIS Functional Specification (includes the SEDRIS Data Representation Model, and the Read and Write APIs
Part 2: SEDRIS Transmittal Format
Part 3: SEDRIS Transmittal Format Binary Encoding
2. WD 18024: SEDRIS Language Bindings – a multi-part standard with the following initial part:
Part 4: SEDRIS Language Binding to C
3. WD 18025: Environmental Data Coding Specification (EDCS)
4. WD 18026: Spatial Reference Model (SRM)

6. Two Additional SEDRIS ISO/IEC Standards
Being nominated as:
5. WD xxxxx EDCS Language Bindings – a multi-part standard with the following initial part:
Part 4: EDCS Language Binding to C
6. WD xxxxx SRM Language Bindings – a multi-part standard with the following initial part:
Part 4: SRM Language Binding to C

7. Participating in ISO/IEC Standards (1 of 2)
Within ISO/IEC, all SEDRIS standards work is assigned to Joint Technical Committee 1 Sub-committee 24 (JTC1 SC 24)
In Fall 1999 SC 24 established WG 8 (working group on Environmental Representation) to take on SEDRIS standards work
ISO/IEC standards development work begins with a working draft (WD) specification, and progresses to committee draft (CD), final committee draft (FCD), draft international standard (DIS), and finally international standard (IS)
National standards development organizations represent member countries in the ISO/IEC standards development, review, and voting process
There is only one vote per member country
In US the counterpart to SC 24 is ANSI NCITS H3 (American National Standards Institute, National Committee for Information Technology Standards, Committee H3 (Imagery and Graphics))
For more information see the following related web sites:

8. Participating in ISO/IEC Standards (2 of 2)
SISO members can get involved by joining the appropriate SISO SAC study/development groups
EDCS PDG (WD & WD xxxxx TBD)
SRM PDG (WD & WD xxxxx TBD)
SEDRIS PDG (WD & WD 18024; establishment TBD)
SISO is a member of NCITS H3
The SAC TAD will collect and review all inputs and will provide the consolidated/adjudicated inputs to NCITS H3
Probably as SISO Reference Products
Other paths for participation include:
Becoming a member of your own country’s national standards body (in US this is NCITS H3)
Becoming a SEDRIS Associate

9. The SISO SEDRIS-related Products
In addition to, and independent of, the ISO/IEC standards development, the implementation of the SRM and EDCS (with specific names to be assigned) will be developed as SISO products
Two SISO product development groups (PDG), to address technical implementation of the SRM and EDCS ISO/IEC standards, are being established
PNs approved by SAC/EXCOM Feb ‘00
PDG administrative meeting Mar ‘00 at SIW
PDGs will hold their first working meeting 4/5 May ‘00
These two PDGs will develop:
Reference Products as regards the ISO/IEC specification standards
Guidance Products as regards implementation and use
The four types of SISO products follows 

10. SISO Products
Standards Products: Formally approved documents that reflect consensus agreements on products, practices, or operations, as required, by simulation industry applications. Interoperability with a SISO Standard shall require full compliance to document specifications.
SISO Standards are stable and well-understood, technically competent, have multiple, independent, and interoperable implementations with substantial operational experience, enjoys significant public support, and is recognizably useful in some or all parts of the simulation community.
Guidance Products: Documents that can control the development, integration, and use of common reference data in some portion of the M&S community.
Similar to Standards in that they describe SISO Best and Current Practices. A recommended development process is an example of a Guidance Product.
Reference Products: Sources of information that provide a passive input to models and simulations. May also be an aid to research.
Include, e.g., reports prepared by Study Groups, Data Dictionaries, Lexicons and the SIW Proceedings.
Administrative Products: Developed by SISO to guide the operations and practices of the organization.
Examples include the SISO Vision document and the SISO Policies and Procedures.

11. SISO’s SEDRIS-related PDG Objectives
To review the SRM and EDCS technologies and their corresponding software implementations
To provide comments, modifications, improvements, for incorporation into the SEDRIS software baseline
Once the results are satisfactory to SISO, to provide these as formal SISO products, recommending and encouraging their use within the M&S community
To provide paper products to compliment the software products (in the form of papers, tutorials, formal or reference documents, etc.)
The products will reference appropriate ISO/IEC specification standards

12. Value to SISO Community (1 of 2)
Leverage two components of the SEDRIS technologies across a broader domain than environmental data representation and interchange
Environmental Data Coding Specification (EDCS)
Spatial Reference Model (SRM)
Broadened domain of interest includes, e.g.:
Any M&S data including location/orientation information
Non-environmental runtime (e.g. TSPI data, entity enums)
Environment runtime (e.g. SOM development)
To be accomplished by utilizing the formal SISO product nomination/development process
Separate product development groups (PDGs)
Reference products based on an existing body of standards work with ISO
Fast-track efforts within SISO to develop guidance products to standardize Reference Implementations

13. Value to SISO Community (2 of 2)
SISO Product would add value to the ISO/IEC specification standards in two fashions:
Scoping the recommended uses of the specification standards within the M&S community, including use cases, e.g.:
SRM Reference Implementation use in federates
SRM (TSPI data) and EDCS/OMT to define SOMs
EDCS Reference Implementation use within COTS products
Extending (or refining) the specification standards for use within the M&S community, e.g.:
Additional spatial reference frames for satellite entities
Extension of the EDCS for dynamic obscurants, sensor parameters, entity enumerations

14. Value to M&S Community To replace legacy DIS capabilities, e.g.:
Entity Bit Value (EBV) enumeration
ModSAF libCoordinates
JSIMS/WARSIM built “ECS” over SRM Reference Implementation
To increase interoperability, e.g.:
TSPI and envirodata; wean federations from DIS GCC
DMSO EnviroFed leveraging in SOMs/FOM
To increase federate accuracy and performance, e.g.:
Use of SRM reference implementation
Portions of SRM applied to geoVRML and JSIMS/WARSIM
To provide rational structure for community data modeling
Integration of disparate data sources/requirements with environmental data consumers (military models), e.g.:
Emissive characteristics of terrain vs. required sensor inputs
Capture of non-environment data such as EO/IR sensor characteristics
STRICOM built/extended TCDM “from” EDCS; O/A RDM next

15. SISO Product Development Process
1. Activity Approval (DONE)
2. Product Development (WE ARE HERE)
3. Ballot Product (Not required for Reference & Administrative Products)
4. Product Approval (SAC, CC, EXCOM as applicable)
5. Distribution and Configuration Management
6. Periodic Review
Development Principles:
Responsiveness and Responsibility - SISO shall be responsive to the communities it serves. SISO shall be responsible for providing products and services that promote interoperability with the least possible impact on existing applications.
Quality - SISO activities and resulting products shall reflect technical excellence and the highest quality work.
Discipline - SISO shall exercise due process in all activities. Policies and procedures shall be publicly available and shall serve as the basis for governing the organization and its activities.
Fairness - SISO activities shall provide the right of appeal at all levels.
Openness - SISO activities shall be carried out in an open forum where any person has access to the process.
Consensus - SISO decisions shall be based on simple majority agreement unless explicitly stated otherwise. Votes and ballots may be conducted in person, by teleconference, or by electronic balloting, as appropriate, and as established by the Product Development Group for each balloted effort.

16. PDG Components
Drafting Group - This group is responsible for evaluating and evolving a draft product; circulating the product for review; responding to comments by reviewers; and responding to the SAC on scope, schedule, and technical issues. The SAC establishes the number of drafting group members based on the nature and expected activity level of the group. This number normally ranges from five to seven members. Drafting group membership is assigned by the SAC.
Assigned Reviewers - This group is responsible for concentrated review and comment on all products, including interim products. There are 20 or fewer Assigned Reviewers. The members are recommended by the Drafting Group and approved by the SAC.
Volunteer Reviewers - This group is responsible for overall review of the product. The Volunteer Reviewers review any draft of the product and provide comments to the Drafting Group. Volunteer Reviewer membership is unlimited in size and is open to the M&S community and all interested parties.

17. Product Development - Voting Rules
At face to face meetings and teleconferences all present PDG members are eligible to vote. A minimum of five person quorum is required to conduct a vote. PDGs with restrictive memberships may establish a minimum based on a percentage of members for SAC approval.
A 75% consensus of present members is required to approve a motion in a face to face meeting or teleconference. If a 75% consensus can not be reached the issue is moved to an electronic vote. The PDG secretary shall post a summary of the discussion on the PDG reflector. After a period for discussion, an electronic vote is held to allow the complete PDG to vote on the issue.
Electronic votes are carried by simple majority (50% plus one) of ballots cast. The PDG Chair and DG Editors may require an electronic vote of any issue. Notice of an electronic vote shall be posted 10 business days in advance and the voting shall be open for five days.
Product Development, Draft, 21 Jan, 2000
Balloting, Draft, 26 Mar, 2000

18. PDG Officers Chair - has the following responsibilities:
Chairs PDG meetings.
Manages the development of SISO products. This includes the development of major goals, product development, and the conduct of meetings and activities appropriate for attaining the product schedule.
Ensures the product addresses the issues in the Product Nomination (PN).
Reports to the SAC regarding PDG activities and progress.
Presents PDG progress to the SISO community and coordinates feedback from the community.
Vice Chair - assists the PDG Chair in the performance of the above duties and acts in place of the PDG Chair if the Chair is unable to be present at any PDG meetings or teleconferences. When a PDG Chair is unable to continue to serve in office for any reason, the PDG Vice Chair serves as PDG Chair pending a special meeting of the SAC to fill the vacancy.
Secretary - assists the PDG Vice Chair in the performance of the above duties and ensures that timely announcements, meeting minutes, and PDG schedules are posted.
Technical Editor - selected by the Drafting Group, maintains the draft product and is responsible for the detection and solution of problems early in the development process. The Technical Editor also ensures the integrity of the product in the publication process after approval.

19. DRAFT PDG Status Technical Area Director: Paul Nagele
Chairs (tentative)
EDCS: Bob Richbourg, Institute for Defense Analysis
SRM: Kevin Trott, PAR Government Systems, Inc.
Vice-Chairs & Secretaries - TBD
Membership (tentative, see PNs)
EDCS: 21 members
SRM: 16 members
Separate PDG reflectors established
PDG meetings scheduled:
Organizational: Spring 00 SIW, Thursday 30 March
Working: 4 May and 5 May; ANL, Illinois
Draft schedule consistent with:
Policies & Procedures, Version 2.0, 14 December 1999
Product Development, Draft, 21 Jan 2000
Tentative development schedule follows 
DRAFT

20. ISO/SISO Development Relationships
Product V.1
Product V.2
SISO Products
(Reference & Guidance)
Product V.n
DRAFT
SISO Product
References & Adds
M&S-specific Elaborations
and Implementation Details to
International Standard
SISO
PDG
Proposed
Revisions
Difference Assessment;
Revised Product Draft
SISO
PDG
. . .
Product
Draft
V.n+1
SISO
Proposed
Extensions
(via TAD to National
Standards bodies)
ISO
Draft
International
Standard
Working
Draft
(WD)
Committee
Draft
(CD)
Final
Committee
Draft
(FCD)
Draft International
Standard
(DIS)

21. Development Schedule (1 of 2)
02/21/00 Announce start up of two distinct PDGs (SRM, EDCS)
Ask for volunteers (30 days for response)
03/30/00 Hold PDG organizational meetings at Spring 00 SIW
04/03/00 Post initial WG8 WD documents for review and ask for comments
05/04/00 Hold first PDG meetings
At Argonne National Lab, Illinois; coordinated with SAM #15
05/08/ Post meeting minutes
06/05/ Resolve comments
Post to reflectors for review
07/10/00 Make final resolutions and annotate documents as necessary
Post to reflectors
07/10/00 TAD forwards differences from ISO documents to National Standards bodies for consideration
07/17/00 Hold second PDG meetings
Objective includes finalizing product format and defining V1.0 endpoint
Use 7/3 WG8 results
07/24/00 Post meeting minutes
09/03/00 Resolve comments
Post to reflectors for review
09/19/00 Status outbriefs Fall 00 SIW: SNE/SENS Forums (Joint)
10/02/00 Make final resolutions and annotate documents as necessary.
Post to reflectors
10/02/00 TAD forwards differences from ISO documents to National Standards bodies for consideration
DRAFT
• 4/13 WG8
• 7/3 WG8
• 10/? WG8
Note that we will not be editing the ISO docs directly, but rather maintaining recommended revisions for submittal to National Standards bodies, e.g. ANSI H3.

22. Development Schedule (2 of 2)
10/16/00 Hold third PDG meetings
Update products to final draft
10/23/00 Post meeting minutes
11/27/00 Resolve comments
Expect ISO docs to be in Committee Draft stage; will need to post to reflectors and adjudicate differences with final SISO draft products
Post to reflectors for review
01/02/01 Make final resolutions and annotate documents as necessary.
Post product V1.0 to reflectors.
01/02/01 TAD forwards differences from ISO documents to National Standards bodies for consideration
01/09/01 Teleconference:
Vote on release of EDCS V1.0 Product for AR Ballot
Vote on release of SRM V1.0 Product for AR Ballot
01/15/01  02/15/01 AR Ballot
Possible inputs from WG8 CD docs
02/19/01  03/22/01 AR Resolution
04/02/01 Vote for Community Ballot
04/03/01  05/04/01 Community Ballot
05/07/01  06/06/01 Community Ballot Resolution
06/07/00 V1.0 Products
DRAFT
• 4/? WG8
• 1/? WG8
• 1/? H3