Using Integrative Models in an Advanced Heterogeneous System Simulation

This paper is an academic experience report describing the use by researchers at the University of Arizona of a domain-specific language developed by the Institute for Software Integrated Systems (at Vanderbilt University). The domain in question is heterogeneous, distributed simulation of quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as they respond to command and control requests from a human operator. We describe in detail how our individual designs of the controller and guidance laws for the UAV, its rendering and position updates, on-board sensors, and the various commands to delegate mission-critical behaviors, all interact using the ISIS-developed modeling language. We then discuss the outlook for this domain (heterogeneous system simulation and integration) for domain-specific languages and models, specifically for unmanned vehicle control and interaction. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the 8th OOPSLA Workshop on Domain-Specific Modeling.