The increasing complexity of systems has enhanced the use of simulation as a decision-support tool. Often, simulation is the only scientific methodology available to practitioners for the analysis of complex systems. However, only a small fraction of the potential practical benefits of simulation modeling and analysis have reached the potentially large user community because of the relatively high requirement of time, effort, and cost needed to build and successfully use simulation models. Recent advances in information technology provide an opportunity to improve the productivity of simulation model development and deployment activities. In particular, the component-based approach to software development facilitates rapid and cost effective development and deployment of simulations in distributed environments.

This paper describes a model-based approach to distributed component simulation development. The approach includes (i) the application of the IDEF3, IDEF4, and IDEF5 methods for simulation and analysis model specification, (ii) the automatic generation of executable component simulations from IDEF-based models, and (iii) the use of model and component libraries to facilitate effective knowledge capture and re-use over extended periods of time. A preliminary architecture and its implementation will be presented to illustrate the utility of our approach.