Proceedings of the 2017 Winter Simulation Conference W. K. V. Chan, A. D’Ambrogio, G. Zacharewicz, N. Mustafee, G. Wainer, and E. Page, eds. THE MODELVERSE: A TOOL FOR MULTI-PARADIGM MODELLING AND SIMULATION Yentl Van Tendeloo Department of Mathematics and Computer Science University of Antwerp Middelheimlaan 1 Antwerp, BELGIUM Hans Vangheluwe Department of Mathematics and Computer Science University of Antwerp / Flanders Make vzw Middelheimlaan 1 Antwerp, BELGIUM ABSTRACT Multi-Paradigm Modelling (MPM) has been proposed to tackle the complexities found in Cyber-Physical Systems. MPM advocates the explicit modelling of all pertinent parts and aspects of complex systems. It adresses and integrates three orthogonal dimensions: multi-abstraction modelling, concerned with the (refinement, generalization, . . . ) relationships between models; multi-formalism modelling, concerned with the (multi-view, multi-component, . . . ) coupling of and transformation between models described in different formalisms; explicitly modelling the often complex, concurrent workflows. Current modelling, analysis and simulation tools support only isolated parts of MPM. The core methods and techniques enabling MPM are modelling language engineering, model operations (such as transformation and simulation), and workflow modelling. This paper delves into each enabler, presenting its relation to MPM and how it is supported in our prototype tool: the Modelverse. An automotive power window example is used to illustrate the Modelverse’s capabilities. All aspects are explicitly modelled and enacted with a Formalism Transformation Graph + Process Model (FTG+PM). 1 INTRODUCTION Complex Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) consist of a physical part which interacts with its environment, are controlled by (embedded) software, and are often networked with other Cyber-Physical Systems. Modelling is essential to develop these systems and tackle their inherent complexity. In particular, Multi-Paradigm Modelling (MPM) (Vangheluwe, de Lara, and Mosterman 2002) proposes to explicitly model all relevant aspects of the system, using the most appropriate formalism(s), at the most appropriate level(s) of abstraction, while explicitly modelling the development process. Due to its nature, MPM spans a large number of domain-specific formalisms (as these are often most appropriate), with associated operations, combined in a process model. These aspects may be modelled using the Formalism Transformation Graph and Process Model (FTG+PM) formalism (Lucio et al. 2013). Support for MPM, and in particular for the FTG+PM, is only partial in current tools. This, as MPM combines three research areas: 1. Language Engineering to create and instantiate new languages. These languages can be tailored to the problem domain, resulting in Domain-Specific Modelling Languages (DSMLs). This aspect of MPM lowers the cognitive gap between the problem and solution domain by decreasing verbosity and maximally constraining the modeller to the problem at hand. 2. Model Operations to define the semantics of models, and to execute them. These operations can be tailored to specific DSMLs, thereby giving semantics to user-defined languages. This aspect of MPM takes models beyond mere documentation, thereby increasing their usefulness. 3. Process Modelling to define the control and data flow of the development process. The process is tailored to a specific problem, which gives rise to causal dependencies between the used formalisms 944 978-1-5386-3428-8/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE