Distributed event graphs: Formalizing component-based modelling and simulation

Abstract

Proceedings of the Workshop on Visual Languages and Formal Methods (VLFM 2004), Visual Languages and Formal Methods 2004In this work an extension to the classical Event Graphs formalism for discrete-event simulation is presented. The extensions are oriented towards the specification of component-based models. The abstract syntax has been defined through meta-modelling. Several methodological issues are discussed, concerning the use of two different meta-modelling levels or collapsing the language into a single one, where “instance-of” relationships are used between processes and their classes. The operational semantics have been defined through graph transformation. This formal definition enables analysis before code is generated from the model. The syntax and semantics of the visual language have been implemented in the multi-paradigm tool AToM3, together with a code generator that produces stand-alone applications able to run the analysed models in real-time.I’d like to thank the three anonymous referees for their comments, and the sponsors of this work: the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (TIC2002- 01948) and the Santander Central Hispano Bank