Home  |   Contact Us 
  Products   |   Solutions  |   Support  |   News  |   White Papers  |   About Us 
Products  >  DIS Filter
PRODUCTS
- Platform Entities
- AH-64 Apache
- F-15 Eagle
- F-16 Fighting Falcon
- F-18 Super Hornet
- F-22 Raptor
- MANPAD
- U/MH-60
- OH-58 Kiowa Warrior
- Role-Players
- Framework Software
- CBA®
- DIS Filter
- Data Recording/Playback
- EOS
- Map Server
- Simulator Stations
- Reconfigurable Cockpit
- Portable Sim
- Kiosk
- Laptop Sim
- Additional Components
- Visual Display Options
- Visual Scene Software

DIS Filter/Router

The DIS (Distributed Interactive Simulation) Filter/Router product is a user-customizable set of components used to manage the number and types of Protocol Data Units (PDUs) arriving on a network or delivered to a particular live/virtual/constructive system.

Some virtual and constructive systems cannot handle large numbers of PDUs on the network in exercises that have large numbers (>10,000) of entities. The DIS Filter/Router allows these systems to participate in the exercise without being overwhelmed by too many PDUs. The DIS Filter/Router limits the number of PDUs arriving at the system in user-configurable ways. For example, a high-flying fighter does not always need to be concerned with soldiers on the ground that are far away. A simple PDU filter chain could be set up that ignores soldiers that are more than 100 miles away.

There are two typical configurations for the DIS Filter:

  • An internal filter for one simulator
  • An external filter for one or more simulators on your local network



Our recommended configuration for the DIS Filter/Router is as a separate appliance. The DIS protocol can be processor intensive, and because the DIS Filter/Router typically needs to communicate on two different networks we recommend it be run on a stand-alone computer. The appliance configuration also allows the DIS Filter/Router to manage PDUs for a LAN/WAN where more than one simulation system is located.

The DIS Filter/Router can be run on the same computer as your simulator by providing separate DIS exercise ID, port number, and IP address configurations, but this is not our recommended configuration, especially for large exercises.

The DIS Filter/Router is configured via XML, making it easy to customize it for your particular DIS exercise and/or simulator requirements.


Standard PDU Filters include:
Logical Filters Entity Based Filters
AllPdusFilter - Satisfied by all PDUs. EntityMarkingFilter - Satisfied by Entity State PDUs whose marking field is set to a particular value.
AndPduFilterList - Maintains a list of PDU filters. This filter is satisfied if all filters in its list are satisfied. EntityStatePduFilter - Satisfied by Entity State PDUs that are foreign based on the entity id.
OrPduFilterList - Maintains a list of PDU filters. This filter is satisfied if any of the filters in its list are satisfied. EntityTypePduFilter - Satisfied by Entity State PDUs that have an entity type that is one of the allowed types and not one of the disallowed types. The allowed and disallowed types may consist of any number of entity types and may have any of their seven fields specified by a wildcard.
NotPduFilter - Negates one of the other PDU filters. CollisionPduFilter - Satisfied by Collision PDUs that are foreign based on the issuing entity id.
PduTypeFilter - Maintains a settable list of PDU types. This filter is satisfied if the incoming PDU has a type that is in the list.  
ClassFilter - must be of a particular class.  

 

Environment Based Filters Miscellaneous Filters
ElectromagneticEmissionPduFilter - Satisfied by Emission PDUs that are foreign based on the emitting entity id. SimulationManagementPduFilter - Satisfied by Sim Management PDUs that are foreign based on the originating entity id and have a receiving entity id that matches the parent DIS Controllers site and app id.
SignalPduFilter - Satisfied by Signal PDUs that are foreign based on the entity id and if the signal type is one of the allowed signal types and not one of the disallowed signal types. DetonationPduFilter - Satisfied by Detonation PDUs that are foreign based on the munition id.
SupplementalEmissionsEntityStatePduFilter - Satisfied by Supplemental Emission PDUs that are foreign based on the emitting entity id. IffAtcNavaidPduFilter - Satisfied by IFF/ATC/ Aid PDUs that are foreign based on the emitting entity id.
TransmitterPduFilter - Satisfied by Transmitter PDUs that are foreign based on the emitting entity id. DisPointOfInterestRangeFilter - Satisfied by Entity State PDUs whose location is within a defined range from a geocentric position. This point may be tied to an entity and thus provide range-based filtering around a given entity.
FirePduFilter - Satisfied by Fire PDUs that are foreign based on the firing entity id.

Who is using the DIS Filter?

We have a number of customers using the DIS Filter. The Army's Air Maneuver Battle Lab currently filters over 80,000 entities and related PDUs on very large networked exercises. The filter limits the entities visible to the OH-58D Simulators to about 4,000 entities. ZedaSoft integrated these simulators with the OH-58D entity using our CBA® for Simulation framework. See our OH-58D/AMBL press release for more information about this particular implementation.

How many PDUs will the DIS Filter handle?

It has been tested with up to 8,000 PDUs per second. The Army's Air Maneuver Battle Lab pushes the DIS Filter/Router the hardest, and uses it on a network with thousands of DIS entities where the simulator network receives up to 4,000 PDUs/sec.

What computer does it run on?

We recommend that DIS Filter/Router be installed on a separate computer in large networked exercises. We can provide a DIS Filter/Router appliance preconfigured for your network. Currently, the DIS Filter system is only supported on Linux but has been tested in Windows. The computer needs to have two physical network interfaces to allow it to connect to two networks and do its filter job. Any dual core Intel/AMD CPU with 2GB of RAM or more and 10GB of disk space will do.

What else do I need to use the DIS Filter?

You need a CBA for Simulation license and Sun Java 5+ JRE installed.

What is DIS?

Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) is an open standard for conducting platform-level war gaming across multiple host computers, and is defined by the IEEE 1278 family of standards documents. Wikipedia has an informative introduction to DIS.

DIS improvements and standard DIS enumerations are managed by the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO).