A BPMN/HLA-Based Methodology for Collaborative Distributed DES

Abstract

In many domains, Discrete-Event Simulations (DES) are usually used to reproduce the behavior of a certain system or process, where events are processed one after another in chronological and sequential order. Classical DES will no longer be a possible solution for Complex and Large-scale systems, System of Systems (SoS), and Performance Evaluation Systems that compare multiple different simulations running simultaneously in parallel. Advances in network and communications made the Distributed Simulation (DS) approach one of the best solutions for the aforementioned Systems Simulations. One of the challenges faced when developing a DS from DES components is the federation behavior including time management and synchronization between these components. In most of the traditional DES platforms, simulations cannot exchange messages, nor change the configuration at run time. This makes the DES connection and integration very hard and at times, impossible to implement. This article presents the method used to integrate different DES components, using High-Level Architecture (HLA) Evolved Standard, Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), and Jaamsim, a Java open source DES.