Using System Entity Structures to Model the Elements of a Scenario in a Research Flight Simulator

While any simulation study starts with a scenario, scenario development is usually conducted in an unstructured and ad hoc manner. In order to streamline scenario development, a formal approach is envisioned in the research flight simulator facility of German Aerospace Center (DLR), namely Air Vehicle Simulator (AVES). System Entity Structure (SES) which is a high level ontology that was introduced to specify a set of system structures and parameter settings is proposed as the foundations. The paper outlines a model-based methodology for scenario development. SES is exploited for metamodeling in order to capture all possible elements of a scenario that can be simulated in AVES. Then a scenario modeling methodology is built upon this metamodel.