The Federation Interfaces Library can be incorporated into QualNet and EXata models, adding support for multi-simulator integration.
Multiple simulators can be used to simulate different aspects of the same scenario. The results of such a co-operative simulation can be more realistic and meaningful than those obtained by using any single simulator. The simulators interoperate with each other via data sharing to achieve a consistent representation of the simulation environment. Several standards, such as Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) and High Level Architecture (HLA), have been developed to facilitate data sharing among simulators.
High Level Architecture
High Level Architecture (HLA) is a specification that enables two or more software programs (usually simulation software) to interoperate. The software programs communicate with each other through a Run-Time Infrastructure (RTI) module, which implements the HLA interface specification.
Distributed Interactive Simulation
Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) is an IEEE standard for interfacing multiple simulation tools into a single, real-time simulation. The transport of information between simulators is performed using UDP and broadcast and/or multicast IP. Although superseded by HLA and IEEE 1516, DIS still remains popular for its simplicity of operation and the ease of creating a DIS interface. In HLA terminology, the collection of communicating simulations is called a federation and each simulation is called a federate. The object and interaction classes used in the federation are defined in a module called Federation Object Model (FOM). Information is exchanged between simulations using this FOM.
Socket Interface
Communication between a SCALABLE application and the external program is implemented over a TCP socket, with the SCALABLE application acting as the server and the external program as the client. Several types of messages can be sent between the two processes.