Model Continuity in Discrete Event Simulation: A Framework for Model-Driven Development of Simulation Models.

Most of the well known modeling and simulation methodologies state the importance of conceptual modeling in simulation studies and they suggest the use of conceptual models during the simulation model development process. However, only a limited number of methodologies refers to howto move from a conceptual model to an executable simulation model. Besides, existing modeling and simulation methodologies do not typically provide a formal method for model transformations between the models in different stages of the development process. Hence, in the current M&S practice, model continuity is usually not fulfilled. In this article, a model driven development framework for modeling and simulation is in order to bridge the gap between different stages of a simulation study and to obtain model continuity. The applicability of the framework is illustrated with a prototype modeling environment and a case study in the discrete event simulation domain

A Modeling and Verification Approach to the Design of Distributed IMA Architectures Using TTEthernet

AbstractIntegrated Modular Avionics (IMA) architectures complemented with Time-Triggered Ethernet (TTEthernet) provides a strong platform to support the design and deployment of distributed avionic software systems. The complexity of the design and continuous integration of such systems can be managed using a model-based methodology. In this paper, we build on top of our extension of the AADL modeling language to model TTEthernet-based distributed systems and leverage model transformations to enable undertaking the verification of the system models produced with this methodology. In particular, we propose to transform the system models to a model suitable for a simulation with DEVS. We illustrate the proposed approach using an example of a navigation and guidance system and we use this example to show the verification of the contention-freedom property of TTEthernet schedule

Applying a model-based methodology to develop web-based systems of systems

Systems of Systems (SoS) are emerging applications composed by subsystems that interacts in a distributed and heterogeneous environment. Web-based technologies are a current trend to achieve SoS user interaction. Model Driven Web Engineering (MDWE) is the application of Model Driven Engineering (MDE) into the Web development domain. This paper presents a MDWE methodology to include Web-based interaction into SoS development. It's composed of ten models and seven model transformations and it's fully implemented in a support tool for its usage in practice. Quality aspects covered through the traceability from the requirements to the nal code are exposed. The feasibility of the approach is validated by its application into a real-world project. A preliminary analysis of potential benets (reduction of eort, time, cost; improve of quality; design vs code ratio, etc) is done by comparison to other project as an initial hypothesis for a future planned experimentation research.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3- 3-RMinisterio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

A modeling and verification approach to the design of distributed IMA architectures using TTEthernet

ABSTRACT: Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) architectures complemented with Time-Triggered Ethernet (TTEthernet) provides a strong platform to support the design and deployment of distributed avionic software systems. The complexity of the design and continuous integration of such systems can be managed using a model-based methodology. In this paper, we build on top of our extension of the AADL modeling language to model TTEthernet-based distributed systems and leverage model transformations to enable undertaking the verification of the system models produced with this methodology. In particular, we propose to transform the system models to a model suitable for a simulation with DEVS. We illustrate the proposed approach using an example of a navigation and guidance system and we use this example to show the verification of the contention-freedom property of TTEthernet schedule

From the Behavior Model of an Animated Visual Language to its Editing Environment Based on Graph Transformation

Animated visual models are a reasonable means for illustrating system behavior. However, implementing animated visual languages and their editing environments is difficult. Therefore, guidelines, specification methods, and tool support are necessary. A flexible approach for specifying model states and behavior is to use graphs and graph transformations. Thereby, a graph can also represent dynamic aspects of a model, like animations, and graph transformations are triggered over time to control the behavior, like starting, modifying, and stopping animations or adding and removing elements. These concepts had already been added to Dia-Meta, a framework for generating editing environments, but they provide only low-level support for specifying and implementing animated visual languages; specifying complex dynamic languages was still a challenging task. This paper proposes the Animation Modeling Language (AML), which allows to model behavior and animations on a higher level of abstraction. AML models are then translated into low-level specifications based on graph transformations. The approach is demonstrated using a traffic simulation

UML Profile for Mining Process: Supporting Modeling and Simulation Based on Metamodels of Activity Diagram

An UML profile describes lightweight extension mechanism to the UML by defining custom stereotypes, tagged values, and constraints. They are used to adapt UML metamodel to different platforms and domains. In this paper we present an UML profile for models supporting event driving simulation. In particular, we use the Arena simulation tool and we focus on the mining process domain. Profiles provide an easy way to obtain well-defined specifications, regulated by the Object Management Group (OMG). They can be used as a presimulation technique to obtain solid models for the mining industry. In this work we present a new profile to extend the UML metamodel; in particular we focus on the activity diagram. This extended model is applied to an industry problem involving loading and transportation of minerals in the field of mining process.Fil: Giubergia, Andrea. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Fisico- Matematicas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Riesco, Daniel. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Fisico Matematicas y Naturales. Departamento de Informatica; ArgentinaFil: Gil Costa, Graciela Verónica. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Departamento de Informática. Laboratorio Investigación y Desarrollo En Inteligencia Computacional; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Luis; ArgentinaFil: Printista, Alicia Marcela. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Departamento de Informática. Laboratorio Investigación y Desarrollo En Inteligencia Computacional; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Luis; Argentin

A Language-centered Approach to support environmental modeling with Cellular Automata

Die Anwendung von Methodiken und Technologien aus dem Bereich der Softwaretechnik auf den Bereich der Umweltmodellierung ist eine gemeinhin akzeptierte Vorgehensweise. Im Rahmen der "modellgetriebenen Entwicklung"(MDE, model-driven engineering) werden Technologien entwickelt, die darauf abzielen, Softwaresysteme vorwiegend auf Basis von im Vergleich zu Programmquelltexten relativ abstrakten Modellen zu entwickeln. Ein wesentlicher Bestandteil von MDE sind Techniken zur effizienten Entwicklung von "domänenspezifischen Sprachen"( DSL, domain-specific language), die auf Sprachmetamodellen beruhen. Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigt, wie modellgetriebene Entwicklung, und insbesondere die metamodellbasierte Beschreibung von DSLs, darüber hinaus Aspekte der Pragmatik unterstützen kann, deren Relevanz im erkenntnistheoretischen und kognitiven Hintergrund wissenschaftlichen Forschens begründet wird. Hierzu wird vor dem Hintergrund der Erkenntnisse des "modellbasierten Forschens"(model-based science und model-based reasoning) gezeigt, wie insbesondere durch Metamodelle beschriebene DSLs Möglichkeiten bieten, entsprechende pragmatische Aspekte besonders zu berücksichtigen, indem sie als Werkzeug zur Erkenntnisgewinnung aufgefasst werden. Dies ist v.a. im Kontext großer Unsicherheiten, wie sie für weite Teile der Umweltmodellierung charakterisierend sind, von grundsätzlicher Bedeutung. Die Formulierung eines sprachzentrierten Ansatzes (LCA, language-centered approach) für die Werkzeugunterstützung konkretisiert die genannten Aspekte und bildet die Basis für eine beispielhafte Implementierung eines Werkzeuges mit einer DSL für die Beschreibung von Zellulären Automaten (ZA) für die Umweltmodellierung. Anwendungsfälle belegen die Verwendbarkeit von ECAL und der entsprechenden metamodellbasierten Werkzeugimplementierung.The application of methods and technologies of software engineering to environmental modeling and simulation (EMS) is common, since both areas share basic issues of software development and digital simulation. Recent developments within the context of "Model-driven Engineering" (MDE) aim at supporting the development of software systems at the base of relatively abstract models as opposed to programming language code. A basic ingredient of MDE is the development of methods that allow the efficient development of "domain-specific languages" (DSL), in particular at the base of language metamodels. This thesis shows how MDE and language metamodeling in particular, may support pragmatic aspects that reflect epistemic and cognitive aspects of scientific investigations. For this, DSLs and language metamodeling in particular are set into the context of "model-based science" and "model-based reasoning". It is shown that the specific properties of metamodel-based DSLs may be used to support those properties, in particular transparency, which are of particular relevance against the background of uncertainty, that is a characterizing property of EMS. The findings are the base for the formulation of an corresponding specific metamodel- based approach for the provision of modeling tools for EMS (Language-centered Approach, LCA), which has been implemented (modeling tool ECA-EMS), including a new DSL for CA modeling for EMS (ECAL). At the base of this implementation, the applicability of this approach is shown

Model-driven performance analysis of rule-based domain specific visual models

Context: Domain-Specific Visual Languages (DSVLs) play a crucial role in Model-Driven Engineering (MDE). Most DSVLs already allow the specification of the structure and behavior of systems. However, there is also an increasing need to model, simulate and reason about their non-functional properties. In particular, QoS usage and management constraints (performance, reliability, etc.) are essential characteristics of any non-trivial system. Objective: Very few DSVLs currently offer support for modeling these kinds of properties. And those which do, tend to require skilled knowledge of specialized notations, which clashes with the intuitive nature of DSVLs. In this paper we present an alternative approach to specify QoS properties in a high-level and platform-independent manner. Method: We propose the use of special objects (observers) that can be added to the graphical specification of a system for describing and monitoring some of its non-functional properties. Results: Observers allow extending the global state of the system with the variables that the designer wants to analyze, being able to capture the performance properties of interest. A performance evaluation tool has also been developed as a proof of concept for the proposal. Conclusion: The results show how non-functional properties can be specified in DSVLs using observers, and how the performance of systems specified in this way can be evaluated in a flexible and effective way.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2008-031087Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2011-2379

Multi-paradigm modelling for cyber–physical systems: a descriptive framework

The complexity of cyber–physical systems (CPSS) is commonly addressed through complex workflows, involving models in a plethora of different formalisms, each with their own methods, techniques, and tools. Some workflow patterns, combined with particular types of formalisms and operations on models in these formalisms, are used successfully in engineering practice. To identify and reuse them, we refer to these combinations of workflow and formalism patterns as modelling paradigms. This paper proposes a unifying (Descriptive) Framework to describe these paradigms, as well as their combinations. This work is set in the context of Multi-Paradigm Modelling (MPM), which is based on the principle to model every part and aspect of a system explicitly, at the most appropriate level(s) of abstraction, using the most appropriate modelling formalism(s) and workflows. The purpose of the Descriptive Framework presented in this paper is to serve as a basis to reason about these formalisms, workflows, and their combinations. One crucial part of the framework is the ability to capture the structural essence of a paradigm through the concept of a paradigmatic structure. This is illustrated informally by means of two example paradigms commonly used in CPS: Discrete Event Dynamic Systems and Synchronous Data Flow. The presented framework also identifies the need to establish whether a paradigm candidate follows, or qualifies as, a (given) paradigm. To illustrate the ability of the framework to support combining paradigms, the paper shows examples of both workflow and formalism combinations. The presented framework is intended as a basis for characterisation and classification of paradigms, as a starting point for a rigorous formalisation of the framework (allowing formal analyses), and as a foundation for MPM tool development