Towards Configuration Support for Collaborative Simulator Development - A Product Line Approach in Model Based Systems Engineering

In development and support of complex products such as power plants, automotive vehicles, or aircrafts, modeling and simulation has become an important activity as a basis for knowledge capture. Simulation is used in several steps of the product lifecycle; for evaluation of early design, for system verification, and for user training. With emerging techniques such as tools for high-level modeling, multi-core computing, and visualization, the number of useful models is growing. This paper focuses on reuse of multipurpose models and configuration support in a product line context. A configurator prototype system is presented. The simulator set created from validated models is considered to be a secondary product line. The product set which the simulation models represent is considered to be the primary product line. The Saab Gripen fighter aircraft, together with simulators in which the aircraft behavior, performance, and handling qualities are represented, is used to exemplify application. Integration principles of the systems for simulator configuration, Software Configuration Management, and Product Data Management (PDM) are studied. Preliminary results show that a configurator tool can be used, but there is need to map structures between the simulation and PDM domains.