Formal co-simulation and merge verification
Coupling independent simulators correctly, and proving the coupling holds.
Co-simulation couples independently developed simulators — each modelling one subsystem — into a single coordinated run. The subsystems exchange values at agreed synchronisation points while advancing their own internal state between them. The technique lets specialised tools model what they model best, at the cost of a delicate correctness question: does the coupled run mean what its parts mean?
Two things make that question tractable. A shared interface standard, the Functional Mock-up Interface, fixes how components expose their inputs, outputs, and stepping so that tools from different vendors can be orchestrated together. And formal reasoning about the orchestration — the order of exchanges, the step sizes, the handling of algebraic loops — turns co-simulation correctness from a matter of convention into something that can be checked.
The merge-and-integration-fabric studio sits at this junction, treating cross-simulator coupling and its formal guarantees as first-class artefacts with float-free, sealed evidence.
The vocabulary of the topic.
- Co-simulation
- Coupling separate simulators that exchange values at synchronisation points.
- FMI
- Functional Mock-up Interface — the open standard for exposing and stepping simulation components.
- Synchronisation point
- The agreed instant at which coupled simulators exchange values.
- Algebraic loop
- A direct feed-through cycle between coupled components that the orchestration must resolve.
Studios working on this.
Each runs standalone in its own repository and federates its evidence through the platform.
Run it, don't take it on faith.
The runnable lessons and sealed measurements this site ships for the topic.
Read it at source, in order.
Canonical references for the topic, ordered from the foundations to current work. Every one was verified at source — a DOI resolves through doi.org, a standard through its issuer — so each link goes to the real record.
Current work
- 1 Paper Co-Simulation: A Survey
The reference survey of co-simulation: coupling, orchestration, and correctness.
The standards
- 2
The open interface for coupling simulation components across tools.
Related topics.
Where this topic connects to the rest of the federation's work.