Because of the difficulty of simulating large complex systems with traditional tools, new approaches have and are being developed. One group of interrelated approaches attempts to simultaneously make simulation modeling and analysis easier while at the same time providing enough power to handle more complex problems. This group includes the following important (overlapping) approaches: integrat...

In this paper we present an interactive tool for modeling and simulation as a basis for learning with models and learning by modeling. This tool, called Cool Modes, is capable of integrating several modeling languages in one workspace. There are language plug-ins, e.g., for System Dynamics, Petri Nets, and argumentation graphs. Furthermore, features like handwritten notes or mathematical graphs...

Robotics poses a challenge for software engineering as the vast numbers of different robot platforms impose different requirements on robot control architectures. The platform dependent development of robotic applications impedes reusability and portability. The lack of reusability hampers broad propagation of robotics applications. The MontiArcAutomaton architecture and behavior modeling frame...

Knowledge-based product configuration systems play an important role in modern business strategies. These systems support the sales representative or the technical engineer to cope with the complexity of configurable products, the huge number of available variants, and different restrictions on allowed product constellations. Nowadays, typical knowledge-based configuration systems are not well ...

This paper proposes an architecture based on Web services to support the enactment of ‘units of learning’ (e.g. a course, a lesson, a lab practice) modeled in accordance with an Educational Modeling Language (EML). These languages enable the modeling of instructional practices following a process-based approach, similar to a workflow language. Therefore, the units of learning involve the entiti...

This tutorial paper describes different approaches to modeling and simulation of mixed-technology microsystems that consist of electrical circuits connected to subsystems described by partial differential equations (PDEs), which is a typical situation in many modern integrated circuits and systems. We target this paper towards the audience use of VHDL-AMS (a hardware description language suitab...

SpecExplorer is an integrated environment for modeldriven development of .NET software. In this paper we discuss how scenarios can be described in SpecExplorer’s modeling language, Spec#, and how the SpecExplorer tool can be used to validate those scenarios by various means.

Software engineering for distributed systems is a notoriously hard problem. While common approaches for structural modeling like object-oriented analysis and design offer several benefits, their current support for distributed system design is rather limited. The visual notations for structural modeling can be adjusted to the demands of distributed systems. The behavior modeling notations fail ...

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) still lacks a formal and commonly agreed specification of its semantics that also accounts for UML’s built-in semantic variation points and extension mechanisms. The semantics specification of such extensions must be formally integrated and consistent with the standard UML semantics without changing the latter. Feasible semantics approaches must thus allow ad...

The paper introduces a new, comprehensive integrated conceptual data model in a precise way. Central language features cover core modeling concepts as classification, membership, inheritance, interfaces, structured types, aliasing, aggregation, composition, constraints, clustering and relationships. Schema states are thought of as being realized as graphs with appropriate navigation options. A ...