A Process Based on the Model-Driven Architecture to Enable the Definition of Platform-Independent Simulation Models - Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Application - page 111

Agent Modeling Framework (AMF) which is proposed in [3] for supporting the plat-
form-independent modeling.
MDA, which is the most mature Model-Driven proposal launched by the Object
Management Group (OMG), is based on the process depicted in Figure 1 where three
main abstraction levels of a system and the resulting model transformations are intro-
duced; in particular, the models related to the provided abstraction levels are the fol-
lowing:
• a Computation Independent Model (CIM) which describes context, requirements

and organization of a system at a conceptual level;

• a Platform-Independent Model (PIM) which specifies architectural and behavioral

aspects of the system without referring to any specific software platform;

• the Platform-Specific Models (PSMs) which describe the realization of the system

for specific software platforms and from which code and other development arti-
facts can be straightforwardly derived.
Transformations between these models (M1 Layer) are enabled by both the corres-
ponding metamodels in the M2 Layer and the mappings among metamodels. Each
metamodel is defined as instance of the meta-metamodel represented in the M3 Layer
by the Meta Object Facility (MOF) [31].
The MDA process provides the reference architecture for supporting the generation
of target models given a source model as well as the mapping between its metamodel
and the target metamodels. To exploit the MDA process in the ABMS domain and
obtain agent-based models for specific platforms starting from a platform-independent
model, the basic MDA concepts, which have been specifically conceived for the
Software Engineering domain, have to be mapped into the ABMS counterparts.
To address these issues, the proposed MDA4ABMS process characterizes the fol-
lowing items (which are highlighted in Figure 1): (i) a reference CIM metamodel for
the definition of CIMs which supports the agent-based conceptual system modeling
carried out through both abstract and domain-expert oriented concepts (see Section
3.1); (ii) a PIM metamodel for the definition of Platform-Independent ABMS Models
(See Section 3.2); (iii) mappings among these metamodels so to enable ABMS model
transformations (see Section 3.3). The solution identified for the PIM level allows the

M2 Layer

M3 La ye r M1 Laye r

CI M
Me t a m o de l

<<instance of>>

CIM
Mo de l

CONCEPT UAL
SYSTEM
MODELING

<<bas ed on>>

mapping

trans formation

< <ins t anc e of > >

PIM
Me t a m o de l

PI M
Mo de l

HI GH LEVEL
DESIG N

<<ba s ed o n >>

transformation

ma pping

PSM'
Metamodel

<< i ns t ance o f >>

PS M '
Mo de l

DETAILED
DESIG N

MOF
Me ta m o de l

t r ans formation

<<based on>>

mapping

PS M ' '
Metam odel

<<ins t anc e o f>>

PSM''
Model

<<instanc e of>>

Items spezialized in the MDA4ABMS process

C o d e Co d e IMPLEMENT AT IO N

M0 Layer

Fig. 1. The MDA-based process