11th Int. WS on Simulation & EGSE facilities for Space Programmes (SESP 2010) SimArch: A Layered Architectural Approach to Reduce the Development Effort of Distributed Simulation Systems

Distributed Simulation (DS) has gained popularity for the advantages of increased computational capabilities, simulator reusability and distributed execution [1]. Factors affecting the effectiveness of the DS approach are the skills and the extra-effort that the development of a DS system requires with respect to the equivalent Local Simulation (LS) system. In the case of IEEE High Level Architecture (HLA) [2], the most prominent technology for DS, the extra-effort has been estimated to be up to 60% of the effort required for the development of the equivalent LS system. In addition, the coding of extra 3.5KLOC (Lines Of Code) per federate is generally required [3][4].