Computer‐interpretable representations of system structure and behavior are at the center of developing today's complex systems. Systems engineers create and review these representations using graphical modeling languages that capture requirements, designs, and tests (such as the Systems Modeling Language, SysML). However, these languages must be used in conjunction with analysis tools, in particular, with simulators for physical interaction and numeric signal flow based on ordinary and algebraic differential equation solvers. These kind of simulation tools are often used separately from system modeling tools, leading to inconsistencies that require additional work to eliminate, preventing multidisciplinary concerns from being reflected in the overall system design. As a result, there is an increasing need for integrating physical interaction and signal flow simulation tools and languages into system modeling under a single framework. In this article, we first present an abstraction of the constructs and semantics these simulation tools and languages have in common, based on earlier reviews. Then, we compare SysML to our simulation abstraction to find the parts of SysML closest to simulation modeling, and to identify simulation concepts missing from SysML. This leads to extensions of SysML to bridge the gaps, illustrated with an example application. Next, we address issues in translating extended SysML models to common simulation tools and languages, including the differences between them. Finally, we validate the approach by applying the extension to an example SysML model, automating the translations in software, and showing that the results execute the same way on different simulation platforms.

This paper describes how modeling and simulation can play a major role in developing standards recommendations for patient compartment layout of automotive ambulances in the United States to improve performance and safety. Acquiring necessary information from relevant stakeholders is shown as a method that can be used to determine user design requirements. The requirements will in turn be used to develop design concepts taking into consideration human interface with the ambulance work environment. The modeling and simulation of clinical care activities in the ambulance can be used to evaluate the design concepts and determine those that would better meet safety and performance requirements.

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Harvesting refers to the process of capturing and storing energy from the ambient environment. Kinetic energy harvested from the human body motion seems to be one of the most convenient and attractive solutions for wearable wireless sensors in healthcare applications. Due to their small size, such sensors are often powered by small batteries which might necessitate frequent recharge or even sensor replacement. Energy harvesting can prolong the battery lifetime of these sensors. This could directly impact their everyday use and significantly help their commercial applications such as remote monitoring. In this paper, our aim is to develop a Simulink model of the CFPG device that can be used to study temporal behavior of the generated power. Having such a dynamic model, not only helps to have a more accurate estimation of the amount of power generated from various human movements, but also allows us to further optimize the design parameters of the micro-harvester (e.g. size/dimension, electrostatic holding force, etc.) with the characteristics of the input acceleration (i.e. human activity).

Safety in the patient compartment of ambulances is an issue of growing concern for emergency medical technicians (EMTs), paramedics, patients, and others affected by ambulances. A lot of research has been conducted by different players and much of it is scattered. As a quick reference, this report is to enhance the ability of researchers of this field to sift through a collection of standards and documents from books, journals, websites, and reports. This annotated bibliography is categorized into different fields for further ease of use. A brief abstract follows every bibliographical reference.