MDD4MS: a model driven development framework for modeling and simulation

Model Driven Development (MDD) is a software development approach that is based on the concepts of model, metamodel, meta-metamodel and model transformations. In the MDD approach, source models are transformed into destination models in order to (semi)automatically generate the final executable source code during the software development process.In its final stage, a simulation model is a piece of software that is executed by an interpreter, where the interpreter may include a compiler as well. It is expressed either in a general purpose programming language or in a specialized simulation programming language. Besides, the practice of Modeling and Simulation (M&S) heavily relies on the successive transformations between models of different levels of abstraction or detail. Hence, the simulation field will be greatly facilitated by the use of the MDD approach.In this paper, we propose a MDD framework for modeling and simulation (MDD4MS). Firstly, we present a model driven simulation model development life-cycle refining our earlier work. Then, we explain the metamodels and model transformations in the framework. After that, we suggest a tool architecture and we demonstrate an Eclipse based prototype implementation. Lastly, we discuss the advantages of MDD4MS and its applicability.