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From: Rob M. <msc...@cs...> - 2003-07-13 14:44:15
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Hi all, Some may be interested in my project here at the University of Birmingham, UK. I am creating a package that will (hopefully) enable RePast models to behave as HLA federates using the IEEE 1516 standard. For those not familiar the HLA standard is a DoD sponsored framework for simulation systems interoperability, it defines an abstract object model and synchronisation semantics which are used by federates (individual simulations) interacting within a federation (a group of federates communicating through a shared 'runtime' or RTI). An HLA federation is intrinsically distributed, allowing parallel computation of individual federate-state whilst providing a library for the synchronisation of these states. My plans at the moment are to develop a package whose primary aims are: -To allow RePast models to interact with other models (maybe RePast maybe otherwise) through a shared object model and an RTI. -To allow a RePast model to be split in to seperate component sections (a space and a collection of agents for example) which can then be modelled in seperate federates (RePast instances) achieveing greater parallelism and performance gains. My current architecture looks like this: -A number of classes which extend critical RePast components (ScheduleBase, SimInit, etc...), adding the functionality and behavioural constraints demanded of an HLA federate -A number of library methods for serialising RePast objects and their attributes, which can then be passed through an HLA RTI to other federates -A number of interfaces which HLA compliant RePast models can implement -A 'front-end' like component that handles most low-level interaction between a RePast federate and the associated RTI, the front-end's most arduous task will be the initialisation of the federation (discovery, joining, object-model arbitration, etc...) although it will also handle time-advance constraints and call-back notification as the federation makes calls to the model with notifications of event. If any of this interests anyone I will be happy to keep them informed on a personal basis of how things are developing and would be delighted to supply them with the eventual framework and sourcecode. You can find out more about the HLA at: www.dmso.mil/public/transition/hla/ The only major weakness at present is the relatively high expense of HLA RTI implementations (with the sole implementation of IEEE 1516 costing at least $6000), but free (low-capacity) versions are still out there (again I will be happy to discuss over personal e-mails). Rob. |