CHOPPA-M: Development, Capabilities and Applications to Helicopter Operations Research

CHOPPA-M is a multi-resolution, multi-agent simulation framework developed to complement the existing CHOPPA (Combined Helicopter OPerations and Performance Analysis) framework. Like CHOPPA, it is designed to support operations research methods through simulation. It does so by presenting a consistent user interface and architecture for the modelling of autonomous systems across a variety of physical environments. These autonomous systems, or agents, may then participate in a pre-defined operational scenario. This describes CHOPPA-M's scene/vignette approach. In this paper, the background, architecture and user interface of CHOPPA-M are described. The development of some of the software's agent models are detailed and then employed in a case study: a maritime surveillance helicopter participating in a search and engage operation. From this case study, some conclusions are drawn. Finally, the future direction of CHOPPA-M is discussed.