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Title: Experimental Wargaming with SIGNAL

Journal Article · · Military Operations Research (MOR) Journal
OSTI ID:1882885
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  1. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. Institute for Defense Analyses, Alexandria, VA (United States)
  3. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  4. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  5. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Wargames are a common tool for investigating complex conflict scenarios and have a long history of informing military and strategic study. Historically, these games have often been one-offs, may not rigorously collect data, and have been built primarily for exploration rather than developing data-driven analytical conclusions. Experimental wargaming, a new wargaming approach that employs the basic principles of experimental design to facilitate an objective basis for exploring fundamental research questions around human behavior (such as understanding conflict escalation), is a potential tool that can be used in combination with existing wargaming approaches. The Project on Nuclear Gaming, a consortium involving the University of California, Berkeley, Sandia National Laboratories, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, developed an experimental wargame, SIGNAL, to explore questions surrounding conflict escalation and strategic stability in the nuclear context. To date, the SIGNAL experimental wargame has been played hundreds of times by thousands of players from around the world, creating the largest database of wargame data for academic purposes known to the authors. Here, this paper discusses the design of SIGNAL, focusing on how the principles of experimental design influenced this design.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
NA0003525
OSTI ID:
1882885
Report Number(s):
SAND2022-1439J; 703342
Journal Information:
Military Operations Research (MOR) Journal, Vol. 27, Issue 2; Related Information: https://www.mors.org/Publications/MOR-Journal/Search-Purchase-Issues/2022-MORS-Journal/BKctl/ViewDetails/SKU/MOR270259; ISSN 1082-5983
Publisher:
Military Operations Research SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE