Section: New Results

Multi-modeling and co-simulation

Participants : Laurent Ciarletta [contact] , Olivier Festor, Ye-Qiong Song, Yannick Presse, Julien Vaubourg, Alexandre Tan, Benjamin Segault, Thomas Paris.

Vincent Chevrier (former Maia team, Dep 5, LORIA) is a collaborator and the correspondant for the MS4SG/MECSYCO project, Benjamin Camus, and Christine Bourjot (former MAIA team, Dep 5, LORIA) are collaborators for AA4MM/MECSYCO. Julien Vaubourg and Thomas Paris's PhDs are under the co-direction of V. Chevrier and L. Ciarletta.

In Pervasive or Ubiquitous Computing, a growing number of communicating/computing devices are collaborating to provide users with enhanced and ubiquitous services in a seamless way.

These systems, embedded in the fabric of our daily lives, are complex: numerous interconnected and heterogeneous entities are exhibiting a global behavior impossible to forecast by merely observing individual properties. Firstly, users physical interactions and behaviors have to be considered. They are influenced and influence the environment. Secondly, the potential multiplicity and heterogeneity of devices, services, communication protocols, and the constant mobility and reorganization also need to be addressed. Our research on this field is going towards both closing the loop between humans and systems, physical and computing systems, and taming the complexity, using multi-modeling (to combine the best of each domain specific model) and co-simulation (to design, develop and evaluate) as part of a global conceptual and practical toolbox.

We proposed the AA4MM meta-model [52] that solves the core challenges of multimodeling and simulation coupling in an homogeneous perspective. In AA4MM, we chose a multi-agent point of view: a multi-model is a society of models; each model corresponds to an agent and coupling relationships correspond to interaction between agents. In the MECSYCO-NG (formerly MS4SG, Multi Simulation for Smart Grids) projet which involves some members of the former MAIA team, Madynes and EDF R&D on smart-grid simulation, we developed a proof of concepts for a smart-appartment case that serves as a basis for building up use cases, and we have worked on some specific cases provided by our industrial partner.

In 2016 we worked on the following research topics:

• Assessment and evaluation of complex systems.

• Cyber Physical Systems.

  We have pursued the design and implementation of the Aetournos platform at Loria. The collective movements of a flock of flying communicating robots / UAVs, evolving in potentially perturbed environment constitute a good example of a Cyber Physical System.

  We have maintained thanks to the ADT UASS a set of tools: multi-simulation behavior / network / physics and generic software development using ROS (Robot Operating System). The UAVs carry a set of sensors for location awareness, their own computing capabilities and several wireless networks.

• MS4SG / MECSYCO-NG opportunity to link simulations tools with a strong focus on FMI (Functional Mockup Interface) and network simulators (NS3/Omnet++) thanks to our MECSYCO (formerly AA4MM) framework. We have so far successfully applied our solution to the simulation of smart apartment complex and to combine the electrical and networking part of a Smart Grid. The AA4MM software is now MECSYCO and has seen major improvements in 2016 thanks to the ressources provided by the MECSYCO-NG project in collaboration with EDF R&D (http://www.mecsyco.com).

  Starting from domain specific and heterogenous models and simulators, the MECSYCO suite allows for multi *systems* integration at several levels: conceptual, formal and software. A couple of visualization tools have been developed as proof of concepts both at run-time and post-mortem.

  We have developed software components and plugins that interconnects within MECSYCO heterogeneous simulators from different domains: FMU (working with the 1.0 and 2.0 FMI standard for CoSimulation) ou non-FMU such as NS3 or Omnet++.

  Several EDF oriented advanced use cases have demonstrated multi-simulations.

In addition to technical reports [41], several publications have been accepted in 2016 on these subjects [25], [13] and [34].