Executable Architectures and Their Application to a Geographically Distributed Air Operations Center

Integrated Architectures and Network Centric Warfare represent two central concepts in DoD's on-going transformation. The true power of integrated architectures is brought to bear when they are combined with simulation to move beyond a static representation and create an executable architecture. This architecture can then be used to experiment with system configurations and parameter values to guide employment decisions. This thesis applies the methodology of Dr. Alexander Levis, former Chief Scientist of the Air Force, to the static architecture representing the Aerospace Operations Center (AOC). Using Colored Petri Nets and other simulation tools, an executable architecture for the AOC's Air Tasking Order (ATO) production thread was developed.