OOA—Analysis and Mission - Programming GPS and OpenStreetMap Applications with Java - page 24

the software of a multimedia center. By moving the program environment
into a remote control, the program flow is physically separated from the
participating components, which are only referenced via infrared signals.
Each of the technical components, like the receiver, has its own built-in
functionality, implementation or behavior.
A real car is another example of a technical device, which can be con-
trolled (driven) internally. It can be equipped with a GPS receiver and a
cell phone to transmit its position as a reference to external observers. In
car races, each team could monitor the race with common software, while
remotely tuning their own car.
The ROAF vision zooms out a lot further by assuming every car driving
on the globe's surface could be referenced by external applications. Vice
versa, this would allow every car to analyze trac situation for optimized
navigation around jams.
2. Models in Physics. What if, every thing, every real object could be
referenced by one gigantic framework?
Then, many experiments could be replaced by computer simulations, and
the framework would represent (reflect) one reality for all participating
objects.
Since the location of a car is not sucient to ensure it actually is a real
car, the framework can use scientific laws to validate whether the car is
moving according to physical models, described by mathematical formulas.
By using additional real-world knowledge, like digital maps as a coordinate
grid for cars, plausibility can be verified to a high degree. To make math
physical, real-world units have to be introduced. The human environment
can be described pretty well using the MKS system with the units seconds
for time, kilograms for mass, and meters for distance.
All real-world objects taken together make up one real-world simulation.
3. The Vision. Every RealObject must have a weight (mass), a size (di-
mension), and a location in order to participate in a real-world scenario.
The RealObject is client software, which can run on its own CPU and use
any external real-world knowledge to navigate through a given scenario,
a given reality. The server represents a real-object application (ROApp)
and serves as a third party to observe the objects' behavior according to a
given rule set.
Each RealObject
1. can have a reference to a real object with a GPSunit , a cell phone
(transmitter) and a programming environment;
2. can simply play back a GPStrace to move through the real world of
the server scenario;
3. or can implement a simulation in order to behave according to the
perceived reality of the server defined by interfaces.