A simulation environment for development and evaluation of smart devices for the elderly

This paper describes SISARL simulation environment. The environment is built on Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation to support the design and development of smart devices and systems that aim to enhance life quality and well being of elderly individuals. To evaluate the usability, design, and implementation of a device, the developer provides as an input for each simulation, an operational view specification of the device and a model of the user (or models of multiple users). The specification describes the operations of the device, intended actions of the user(s) and user-machine interactions in terms activities and workflows. The device and the user are simulated when the specification is executed by the workflow engine. The simulation environment provides extensible libraries of reusable components, including device activities, user activities, and workflow definitions, to ease the efforts in writing operational view specifications of new and modified devices. It also provides a library of user models that can be used to simulate user behaviors, as well as tools for the capture, analysis and display of simulation data. In addition to these components of the simulation environment, the paper also describes ways to use simulation results in the design and development process.