Initializing on-line simulations from the state of a distributed system

The paper addresses the complex task of initializing an on-line simulation to a current system state collected from an operating physical system. The paper begins by discussing the complications that arise when the system model employed by the controller and the planner are not the same. The benefits of using the same model for control and planning are then outlined. The paper then discusses a new simulation paradigm that models controller interactions and provides a single model that is capable of supporting planning and control functions. Next, issues arising from performing a distributed simulation of the distributed control architecture that is being employed to manage the system are addressed. The definition of the state for the distributed system is then discussed and the collection of the real-time state information from the elements of this distributed system is outlined. Finally, the procedure for initializing the distributed on-line simulation from the collected real-time state information is given