The analysis and design of complex systems, which very often are composed of several sub-systems, takes advantages by the use of distributed simulation techniques. Unfortunately, the development of distributed simulation systems requires a significant expertise and a considerable effort for the inherent complexity of available standards, such as HLA. This paper introduces a model-driven approach to support the automated generation of HLA-based distributed simulations starting from system descriptions specified by use of SysML (Systems Modeling Language), the UML-based general purpose modeling language for systems engineering. The proposed approach is founded on the use of model transformation techniques and relies on standards introduced by the Model Driven Architecture (MDA). The method exploits several UML models that embody the details required to support two transformations that automatically map the source SysML model into a HLA-specific model and then use the latter to generate the Java/HLA source code. To this purpose, this paper also introduces two UML profiles, used to annotate UML diagrams in order both to represent HLA-based details and to support the automated generation of the HLA-based simulation code.
['Paolo Bocciarelli', "Andrea D'Ambrogio", 'Gabriele Fabiani']
A Model-driven Approach to Build HLA-based Distributed Simulations from SysML Models