A component-based architecture for modelling and simulation of adaptive complex systems

This paper proposes a component-based software architecture (Theatre) hosted by Java, which enables modelling and discrete-event simulation of complex and dynamically reconfigurable systems, possibly on top of a distributed computing context. At the “programming in-the-small” level, Theatre rests on light-weight reactive components (actors or agents) which interact to one another by asynchronous message-passing. Actor behaviour is modelled by a finite state machine. Actors can be easily composed to create new reusable components. At the “programming in-the-large” level a subsystem of actors can be assigned to an execution locus (theatre). A theatre provides to local agents the basic message scheduling, dispatching, communication and mobility services. The paper describes component- based M&S support of Theatre and demonstrates its practical use through examples.