Criteria for Decomposing Systems Into Components in Modeling and Simulation: Lessons Learned with Military Simulations

Abstract

A crucial decision within component-based modeling and simulation is the choice of the criterion or criteria to be used in decomposing the system. Many experiences with combat simulation systems indicate, first, that the optimal choice depends on the driving forces behind the decomposition or the goals that should be achieved by using components instead of monolithic systems. Second, the common criteria for decomposition in software design, information hiding, and “object picking”are sometimes inappropriate for model decomposition because they neglect the importance of so-called hidden assumptions of model abstraction and idealization, which are paramount to the modeling of every complex system.

Improving the Composability of DoD Models and Simulations

“…For a visionary military discussion (parts of which have already been realized), see especially [29]. Other useful discussions include [30]; books on systems engineering, such as [26,41]. [31] is a good issues paper.…”

Seven quick tips for analysis scripts in neuroimaging

“…An effective strategy to reduce software complexity is to break up a large system into smaller parts [24,25]. The first tip is therefore to isolate each single step of an analysis pipeline into its own self-contained script.…”

Component-based light-rail modeling in discrete event systems specification (DEVS)

“…Since microscopic railway models are complex, often large-scale and take long to develop, we paid particular attention to composability, reusability and extensibility in design. It is not hard to argue that for a certain application domain, simulation models can be designed to be more easily reusable and extensible by means of model components [37][38][39]. Functional elements in a complex model that is aimed for reuse should be loosely coupled to one another 3 [41,44].…”