Distributed simulation of complex systems by use of an HLA-transparent simulation language

The continuously decreasing cost of distributed systems gives academics and industry the advantage of using larger execution platforms and of reusing locally implemented software components. This is particularly true for the simulation of complex systems where the computational resources needed considerably increase with the model resolution and with the number of simulated entities. The development of such simulation systems, however, requires extra efforts compared to the conventional local ones. Example extra efforts are learning how to use the Distributed Simulation (DS) Standard (such as HLA) and the development of extra software for the synchronization and communication between the local and distributed environment. In this paper, we address the problem of defining a simulation language that can transparently support the development distributed simulation systems, by making the use of the DS standard transparent and also reducing the amount of extra software. The HLA transparent language we introduce is named jEQN, being Java-based and dealing with Extended Queueing Networks domains. The language approach, however, can be easily extended to any other DS Standard and modelling domain.