Using a formal approach to simulation interoperability to specify languages for ambassador agents

Abstract

Ambassador agents represent simulation services that are candidates to contribute to the solution of a problem. They need to know and express enough about the simulations to negotiate with other ambassador agents if the represented simulation systems can be composed to contribute to the solution. A formal approach to simulation interoperability based on set theory and date modeling theory was developed. The formal model of data in M&S capturing possible representations of real or imagined things in the world including definitions for existential and transformational dependencies is presented. Existential dependencies capture the relationships within a model while transformational dependencies capture the relationships between interactions with a model. These definitions are used to formally specify interoperation, the ability to exchange information, as a necessary condition for interoperability. The elements needed for a language needed for ambassador agents are derived using the formal approach to interoperability. INTRODUCTIONThis paper is composing three research domains supported by the authors and merges them into a common application, namely a theory, an engineering method, and the use of agents.• The topic of composability of models and interoperability of simulations resulted in the development of the Levels of Conceptual Interoperability Model (LCIM), which was first introduced in (Tolk and Muguira 2003) and has been continuously evolved using feedback from other experts in various application domains to its current form, as described in ). • Using the theoretic insights from this model, the engineering method Model-based Data Engineering (MBDE) was developed to support heuristics that can be applied by systems engineers and federation developers to achieve the goal of composing model-based solutions (Tolk and Diallo 2005). • By developing a formal approach to simulation interoperability and capturing the formalism using mathematically precise terms, the development of profiles is supported that now allows the application of Agent-Directed Simulation (ADS) to support the composition. Using the meta-data of the profile, agents become ambassadors for the model-based solution and can negotiate their composition with other solutions in support of a research question.This paper uses many of the groundbreaking ideas on agent-based mediated solutions that so far were missing a common component of a formal approach to interoperability. This component should allow the profiling of a model-based solution, the measurement of the semantic distance between alternatives as well as the measurement of the distance between required capability and provided functionality, and a 359 978-1-4244-9865-9/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE

Densifying the Sparse Cloud SimSaaS: The need of a Synergy among Agent-directed Simulation, SimSaaS and HLA

“…Nevertheless, already in 2006, it was mentioned the importance of agents on simulation by exploring the relationship of software agents to simulation and games (Yilmaz et al, 2006). Some authors (Tolk and Diallo, 2010) (Tolk et al, 2011) defend that most of the current simulation interoperability standards are inadequate as they just support the federation by focusing on information exchange without providing the necessary introspective. HLA provides more flexibility as it only standardises how to structure the data, not the exchanging of information.…”

Towards a unified theory of validation

“…Findings from this work show that in general the component selection problem is NPcomplete and demonstrated that the validity of a composed model should never be taken for granted, even if each of the models within the composition are themselves valid. MBDE gives additional theoretical findings: e.g., there is interoperability between models if and only if there is a common reference model determined from the common intersection between their existential and transformational dependencies (Tolk and Diallo 2010).…”

“…These works have borrowed from other fields upon which M&S depends to establish underlying principles specifically important to M&S. For instance, Discrete Event System Specification (DEVS) (Zeigler, Praehofer, and Kim 2000) and Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) (Wymore 1993) draw from systems engineering, Model Based Data Engineering (MBDE) from database theory (Tolk and Diallo 2010), descriptions of M&S using model theory , Simulation Composability Theory (SCT) from concurrency theory (Weisel, Petty, and Mielke 2003;Szabo, Teo, and See 2009), and Assumption Constraint Engineering (ACE) taking a computer science perspective . From their foundational perspectives, these M&S theories develop principles, properties, definitions, conditions, theorems, and conjectures with respect to M&S in general, some of which affect the practice, assessments, and limits of validation in particular.…”

Supporting Network Enabled Capability by extending the Levels of Conceptual Interoperability Model to an interoperability maturity model

“…Furthermore, the mathematics was used to recommend specifications for languages for ambassador agents by Tolk and Diallo. 22 Ambassador agents represent simulation services that are candidates to contribute to the solution of a problem. They need to know and express enough about the simulations to negotiate with other ambassador agents if the represented simulation systems can be composed to contribute to the solution.…”