Mapping DEVS Models onto UML Models

Discrete event simulation specification (DEVS) is a formalism designed to describe both discrete state and continuous state systems. It is a powerful abstract mathematical notation. However, until recently it lacked proper graphical representation, which made computer simulation of DEVS models a challenging issue. Unified modeling language (UML) is a multipurpose graphical modeling language, a de-facto industrial modeling standard. There exist several commercial and open-source UML editors and code generators. Most of them can save UML models in XML-based XMI files ready for further automated processing. In this paper, we propose a mapping of DEVS models onto UML state and component diagrams. This mapping may lead to an eventual unification of the two modeling formalisms, combining the abstractness of DEVS and expressive power and “computer friendliness” of the UML.