Modular Distributed Modeling

Modular distributed modeling is introduced as a novel Internet-based architecture enabling cooperative engineering design, distributed black-box modeling of engineered artifacts, and open, competitive e-commerce. The motivation for modular distributed modeling is that today’s engineering and manufacturing communities have been fundamentally altered by two factors: (a) the development of non-capt ive supp l i e r s fo r l a rge a s sembly-cen te red manufacturing firms and (b) the development of reliable, high speed electronic connectivity (the Internet). The first factor should enable a more competitive and efficient marketplace. The second factor should be enabling for rapid collaborative development of engineered devices (auto, aircraft,...). But to leverage these two historical developments, there is a need to develop device simulation models that hide knowledge of how device functionality is achieved. Traditional modeling has centered on bringing together all parts of a model to one location all codes collocated on one large computer, or on a tightly bound, very high speed internal network of computational engines. The historical changes in the marketplace now need to be reflected in a new type of simulation environment, one that meets the challenge of information hiding. While in the current generation of simulation environments, the base currency is the number of computer cycles, in the new simulation environment the number of Internet packets is the base currency. We discuss a conceptual architecture that supports the modular distributed modeling, our current status to develop methods and tools supporting modular distributed modeling, and directions we are now pursuing.