Design and Application of a Domain Specific Modeling Language for Distributed Co-Simulation

Co-simulation is considered as a state-of-the-art methodology in many industrial domains. It enables virtual system development in distributed, multi-tiered environments, like the automotive industry. The Distributed Co-Simulation Protocol (DCP) is a novel specification of an application layer communication protocol. It is standardized next to the well-established Functional Mock-Up Interface (FMI). The DCP specification addresses design and behaviour of single DCP slaves, as main components of larger, possibly distributed, co-simulation scenarios. At this point in time, no tailor-made solution for convenient description of distributed co-simulation scenarios is available. This paper presents a first version of DCPML, a domain specific modeling language for distributed co-simulation scenarios. It is based on three layers of integration and contributes to development efficiency by following a front-loading approach. It is designed as a UML profile, extending existing visual notation languages like UML and SysML. The language can be used for design, communication, and preparation for execution, of distributed co-simulation scenarios. For demonstration purposes, it is implemented in an industry relevant systems engineering tool. DCPML models can be used to import and export XML data, representing DCP slave and scenario descriptions. A typical demonstrator from the automotive domain is shown. It highlights a tool implementation and the capabilities of DCPML.