The Plenary Session consisted of presentations by invited guests from Industry, Government and Academia, distinguished in their field, who described the relevance and the importance of the role of SEDRIS in environmental representation and data interchange.

Welcome Farid Mamaghani, Conference Chair, SEDRIS Farid Mamaghani welcomed the attendees, provided a brief background of the SEDRIS series of educational and technology conferences, and identified the conference committee members. He concluded his welcome by introducing the Chief of the Concepts Application Division from the Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (DMSO, the conference sponsor). . . . .	. . Farid Mamaghani SEDRIS .
Lead, Integrate and Leverage M&S for the Warfighter Lt. Colonel Eileen Bjorkman, U.S. Air Force, Chief, Concepts Application Division, Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (DMSO) Lt. Colonel Bjorkman discussed the DMSO Vision and the Modeling and Simulation (M&S) Strategic Plan which implements that Vision. She described M&S support to the warfighter and detailed the organization of DMSO, emphasizing how the primary efforts of DMSO are matched to the organizational structure. Lt. Colonel Bjorkman discussed M&S opportunities and challenges, and described how SEDRIS technology meets those challenges. She concluded her remarks by discussing the SEDRIS and DMSO partnership, and describing the opportunities that the SEDRIS Technology Conference afforded the attendees.	. . LtCol Bjorkman DMSO .
SEDRIS: Today and Tomorrow Paul Foley, Quantum Research International / Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (DMSO) Farid Mamaghani, SEDRIS Paul Foley and Farid Mamaghani discussed SEDRIS as an evolving organization, and described corporate associates, government and industry developers, supporting organizations and programs, and other participants. They discussed standards development objectives, and described how and in what form the international standardization of SEDRIS technologies is being realized. Paul and Farid further discussed the SEDRIS technologies that are being developed into detailed ISO/IEC standards, and identified the countries participating in these efforts. They provided other sources of information regarding ISO/IEC standards development, and briefly described other standards activities, primarily through the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO), and how to participate in those efforts. Finally Paul and Farid took attendees through a look in the rearview mirror, and contrasted that look with what we see today in terms of SEDRIS technologies. They concluded their briefing by projecting a look forward, and providing other sources of information on SEDRIS technology. . . .	. . Paul Foley DMSO . . Farid Mamaghani SEDRIS .
Commercialization of SEDRIS Capabilities Dave Rolston, CEO, MultiGen-Paradigm, Inc.; Sr. Vice President and General Manager, Computer Associates International, Inc. Dave Rolston provided a brief history of the MultiGen-Paradigm, Inc. (MPI) SEDRIS efforts. He discussed MPI's internal “in house” SEDRIS capabilities, describing their first- and second-genration prototype software. Dave discussed MPI's commercialization strategy, describing their first general release product (MultiGen SEDRIS Exporter) and expectations for future SEDRIS products. He concluded his briefing by discussing SEDRIS lessons learned, and describing future directions in modeling and future trends. .	. . Dave Rolston MPI .
Building a Shared Virtual Environment: Some Historical Lessons and Unresolved Issues Duncan Miller, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Executive Committee, Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO) Duncan Miller discussed the status of virtual environments in the early 1980s, detailing the DARPA SIMNET concept. He further identified the challenges for achieving adequate realism, and the shortcomings of environmental representation in the early 1980s. Duncan reviewed the SIMNET architectural principles, and described efforts toward standardization. He then described continuing challenges facing heterogeneous applications, and provided a progress report on several related aspects. Duncan continued with a discussion of lessons learned, and identification of how to get where we need to go. He provided a SISO overview and described user community forums, specialty area forums, and SISO SEDRIS-related products. Duncan concluded his briefing by describing the benefits of the parallel ISO/SISO standardization efforts, and encouraged the audience to get involved in the process/efforts.	. . Duncan Miller MIT
Virtues of Live-Virtual Simulation George Lukes, Program Manager, Information Systems Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) George Lukes discussed the transition from analog to digital maps, and described the convergence of common data products and shared applications. He discussed next generation maps in which real-time sensors will populate the database, and then described a forest of sensors in which multiple objects are detected and tracked in real-time. George discussed the shape classifications of objects, automated classification of objects, and anomaly detection. He further detailed a video surveillance and monitoring integration experiment at Carnegie Mellon University, and provided live-virtual comparisons with model-based visibility analyses, geolocation, and examples of live-virtual simulation. George then discussed dynamic environments and challenges for environmental modeling and computer vision. Finally, he charcterized live-virtual simulation as virtuous, and identified its benefits.	. . George Lukes DARPA
Award Presentation Farid Mamaghani, Conference Chair, SEDRIS Farid Mamaghani presented a SEDRIS Award to George Lukes (DARPA) at the conclusion of the Plenary Session. The award inscription read as follows. Dear George, . This original SEDRIS Data Model is presented as a small measure of our appreciation for your leadership and vision in expanding the horizons of environmental technologies. We are deeply indebted to you for your pioneering efforts and your continued tenacity and advocacy in promoting the importance of environmental topics. . With admiration and appreciation, The SEDRIS Team August 23, 2000	. . Farid Mamaghani SEDRIS . George Lukes DARPA