Realization of Web-based simulation services

摘要

Web-based simulation is a collective term used for various applications and with different meanings: simulation as hypermedia, simulation research methodology, Web-based access to simulation programs, distributed modeling and simulation, and simulation of the WWW (E. Page, http://www.mitre.orgews/the_edge/august_98/wbs.html, 1998). Here, the term Web-based simulation relates to the first three areas, where we see great potential in bringing simulation technology to the Web: exciting applications include the development of new MIME types for technical documents or the realization of standardized service building blocks, which make agile workflow modeling possible in the technical departments of many companies. The contributions of this paper are as follows. The different realization alternatives for Web-based simulation services are explained and discussed with respect to their advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, the prototypic implementation of a Web service is presented, which allows for the analysis and execution of technical models described in the well-known Modelica modeling language. While existing simulators use proprietary or non-interactive communication concepts for Web access, our service is built on the proposed W3C Web interface stack. In particular, it integrates the professional simulation engine YANOS, wich is employed among others in the simulation software FluidSIM of FESTO. Our Web service enables the electronic mailing of technical documents, which may contain model descriptions that can be simulated in the Web browser of the recipient.