Using computer modeling techniques to design tunnel greenhouse structures

The importance of greenhouse construction in some parts of the south-east of Spain has led to the creation of a European Standard for the design and construction of greenhouses for commercial production (UNE-EN 13031-1). The design process of a tunnel greenhouse can be viewed as the construction of object-oriented programs. The idea behind this approach is to incorporate the characteristic of reusability into the greenhouse design process: this characteristic naturally reduces the cost of design of new programs, since the design costs are measured in time and the number of errors made and rectified. In this paper, we demonstrate modeling using object-oriented techniques (OOT) based upon standard UML and XML notations for simulating multitunnel greenhouses. These techniques facilitate identification of the actors involved, their roles, functions, interaction protocols and behavior. Some examples include the processes of greenhouse marketing, calculation of interdependencies and decomposition between the greenhouse structures.