@conference {Gianni20162644, title = {A model-driven and simulation-based method to analyze building evacuation plans}, booktitle = {Proceedings - Winter Simulation Conference}, volume = {2016-February}, year = {2016}, note = {cited By 1}, pages = {2644-2655}, publisher = {Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.}, organization = {Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.}, abstract = {

Modern buildings are often expected to satisfy minimum safety requirements to define upper bounds for safety metrics, such as evacuation time. The building design must therefore consider prediction of these metrics for a set of representative evacuation scenarios. These scenarios can be rather complex, and often can be investigated only using building evacuation simulators. However, these simulators might require considerable development effort, and their use might therefore become less convenient, for time and cost issues. In this respect, this paper introduces a model-driven method to automatically develop building evacuation simulators from informal specifications of building evacuation scenarios, i.e., building plans and behavioral descriptions of evacuees. Specifically, the paper shows how a floor plan develops in the structural characteristics of an Extended Queueing Network (EQN) model and how the behavioral description can be used to parameterize the EQN model. The paper also presents an example application along with preliminary validation issues. {\textcopyright} 2015 IEEE.

}, keywords = {Architectural design, Behavioral descriptions, Building components, Building design, Building evacuation, Buildings, Complex networks, Model-driven method, Modern buildings, Queueing networks, Safety requirements, Simulation-based method, Simulators, Structural characteristics}, isbn = {9781467397438}, issn = {08917736}, doi = {10.1109/WSC.2015.7408372}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84962833056\&partnerID=40\&md5=0f1ea728c9ece7012654f0b378a1486c}, author = {Gianni, D. and Bocciarelli, P. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G.} } @conference {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio2014197, title = {Track report of collaborative modeling and simulation (CoMetS 2014)}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Workshop on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises, WETICE}, year = {2014}, note = {cited By 0}, pages = {197-198}, publisher = {IEEE Computer Society}, organization = {IEEE Computer Society}, abstract = {The CoMetS track aims to bring together leading researchers and practitioners from both the modeling and simulation (M\&S) community and the collaborative environments community, in order to focus on innovative research contributions that address both the use of collaborative technologies in the field of M\&S and the use of M\&S methodologies and tools to address the design of collaborative systems. This paper reports on the motivations of the track and the organization of its fourth edition. {\textcopyright} 2014 IEEE.}, keywords = {Collaborative model}, isbn = {9781479942497}, issn = {15244547}, doi = {10.1109/WETICE.2014.93}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84908430934\&partnerID=40\&md5=505c89f0a88a89fab7ef00dada173576}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Gianni, D. and Fuchs, J. and Iazeolla, G.}, editor = {Reddy S.M.} } @conference {Gianni2012211, title = {3rd IEEE track on collaborative modeling and simulation: (CoMetS 2012)}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Workshop on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises, WETICE}, year = {2012}, note = {cited By 0}, pages = {211-213}, abstract = {The track aims to bring together leading researchers and practitioners from the modeling and simulation (M\&S) and the collaborative environments communities. The track aims to gather innovative research contributions on the use of collaborative technologies to support M\&S activities and on the use of M\&S practices to support the design of collaborative environment. The workshop is inherently multi-disciplinary and aims also to cross-fertilize practices and methods across audience from diverse research domains and communities. This paper reports on the motivations of the track, a brief history and the organization of its third edition. {\textcopyright} 2012 IEEE.}, keywords = {Collaborative environments, Collaborative modeling, Collaborative technologies, Computer simulation, Innovative research, Modeling and simulation, Multi-disciplinary, Research, Research domains}, isbn = {9780769547176}, issn = {15244547}, doi = {10.1109/WETICE.2012.110}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84866914528\&partnerID=40\&md5=3992e194a9d86d7cd60158ed97495e2f}, author = {Gianni, D. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Fuchs, J. and Iazeolla, G.} } @conference {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio2012234, title = {A method for the prediction of software reliability}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 6th IASTED International Conference on Software Engineering and Applications, SEA 2002}, year = {2012}, note = {cited By 16}, pages = {234-240}, publisher = {Acta Press}, organization = {Acta Press}, abstract = {This paper deals with the reliability assessment of component-based software to predict the software product reliability at the early stage. The proposed approach transforms a specification written in a semi-formal language into a stochastic model to be used for reliability evaluation. The paper assumes an UML-based system specification and introduces a method to map the specification onto a failure model. The method enables software designers with no specific knowledge of reliability theory to predict at design time the reliability of the final product, thus introducing lifecycle reliability prediction into their development best practices. The method is illustrated by use of an application case study that deals with the development of distributed software. A software architecture that allows the method to be easily integrated into UML-based software development environments is also introduced. The architecture is based on the use of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) to represent both the UML system specification and the failure model.}, keywords = {Application programs, Automatic modeling, Component based software, Forecasting, Formal languages, Reliability assessments, Reliability Evaluation, Reliability prediction, Reliability theory, Semi-formal languages, Software development environment, Software engineering, Software reliability, Specifications, XML, XML (extensible markup language)}, isbn = {0889863237; 9780889863231}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84904159409\&partnerID=40\&md5=e3371411e5b757b27cda93c405253da1}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G. and Mirandola, R.} } @conference {Gianni2011162, title = {IEEE 2nd track on collaborative modeling and simulation (CoMetS 2011)}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2011 20th IEEE International Workshops on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises, WETICE 2011}, year = {2011}, note = {cited By 1}, pages = {162-163}, abstract = {The track aims to bring together leading researchers and practitioners from the modeling and simulation (M\&S) and the collaborative environments communities. The workshop aims to gather innovative research contributions on the use of collaborative technologies to support M\&S activities and on the use of M\&S practices to support the design of collaborative environment. The workshop is inherently multi-disciplinary and aims also to cross-fertilize ongoing practices across audience from diverse research domains and communities. This paper reports on the motivations of the track and the organization of its first edition. {\textcopyright} 2011 IEEE.}, keywords = {Collaborative environments, Collaborative modeling, Collaborative technologies, Computer simulation, Innovation, Innovative research, Modeling and simulation, Multi-disciplinary, Research, Research domains}, isbn = {9780769544106}, doi = {10.1109/WETICE.2011.67}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-80052645765\&partnerID=40\&md5=8bdec926566e78c034eddbe4b87572df}, author = {Gianni, D. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Fuchs, J. and Iazeolla, G.} } @conference {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio2011155, title = {A model transformation approach for the development of HLA-based distributed simulation systems}, booktitle = {SIMULTECH 2011 - Proceedings of 1st International Conference on Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications}, year = {2011}, note = {cited By 3}, pages = {155-160}, abstract = {The development of HLA-based distributed simulation systems requires a significant expertise and a considerable effort for the inherent complexity of the HLA standard. This paper introduces an automated approach for the development of HLA-based simulation systems of higher quality at largely reduced time, effort and cost. The proposed approach is founded on the use of model transformation techniques and relies on standards introduced by the Model Driven Architecture (MDA). The proposed approach takes as input a UML model of the system to be simulated and yields as output both an intermediate UML model and the final code of the HLA-based distributed simulation system.}, keywords = {Computer simulation, Distributed computer systems, Distributed simulation systems, High level architecture, HLA, MDA, Model driven development, Model transformation, Software architecture, Standardization, Unified Modeling Language}, isbn = {9789898425782}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-80052596859\&partnerID=40\&md5=97f5284df768d7865992d397a976c663}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G. and Pieroni, A. and Gianni, D.} } @article {Gianni2011819, title = {A software architecture to ease the development of distributed simulation systems}, journal = {SIMULATION}, volume = {87}, number = {9}, year = {2011}, note = {cited By 13}, pages = {819-836}, abstract = {The simulation of modern systems may require an amount of computational resources that might not be available on a single host. Distributed simulation (DS) provides an effective way to scale up for the increased computational requirements. However, using existing DS environments remains the main obstacle to the wide adoption of DS systems, because of their inherent complexity. This complexity can be quantitatively shown by the extra effort that the development of DS systems requires compared to the development of conventional local simulation (LS) systems. In this paper we introduce SimArch, a layered architecture that eases the development of DS systems by enabling simulation developers to effortlessly obtain a DS system or derive a DS system from the equivalent LS one. A reference model is used throughout the paper to illustrate the use of SimArch in the development of DS systems and to prove how the DS development effort is lowered down with respect to the use of a conventional DS environment. {\textcopyright} 2011, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.}, keywords = {Computer simulation, Computer simulation languages, Computer software, development effort, Distributed computer systems, distributed simulation, Distributed simulation environments, High level architecture, Layered architecture, Simulation language, Software architecture}, issn = {00375497}, doi = {10.1177/0037549711400777}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-80052372123\&partnerID=40\&md5=8073e46ed4ea01775fd920be558f394c}, author = {Gianni, D. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G.} } @conference {Iazeolla2010, title = {A distributed approach to the simulation of inherently distributed systems}, booktitle = {Spring Simulation Multiconference 2010, SpringSim{\textquoteright}10}, year = {2010}, note = {cited By 3}, abstract = {Inherently distributed systems are systems that are distributed by their own nature; in other words, they are composed of subsystems, which are physically and geographically separated. Examples of such systems are the distributed computer systems with various hosts geographically located; the wireless systems with a number of base and subscriber stations geographically separated; the satellite constellations, the military battlefields and so on. Such systems have, in many cases, been studied by use of Local Simulation (LS), in other words, a simulation run by a single host, or by use of Distributed Simulation (DS) in which the simulation system is divided into a number of federates, run by separate hosts for the scope of obtaining resource scalability and simulator reusability. In this paper, the DS approach is seen from a different point of view: a way to give higher representativeness to the simulation of inherently distributed systems. The approach consists of locating the federates in the same geographic positions of the subsystems that are designed to become part of the inherently distributed system. In this way, the distributed system can be studied in a very realistic way before being implemented. In this paper the problems and the advantages of this new DS approach are discussed and the technology is presented that supports and facilitates its introduction. {\textcopyright} 2010 SCS.}, keywords = {Distributed approaches, Distributed computer systems, Distributed simulations, Distributed systems, HLA, Network security, Reusability, Satellite constellations, Simulation in-the-loop, Simulation representativeness, Simulation systems, Subscriber stations, Wireless systems}, isbn = {9781450300698}, doi = {10.1145/1878537.1878675}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-78650620361\&partnerID=40\&md5=2f9f3dded848b3a4a02c6b3a7b5e898c}, author = {Iazeolla, G. and Pieroni, A. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Gianni, D.} } @conference {Iazeolla201036, title = {A distributed approach to the simulation of inherently distributed systems}, booktitle = {Simulation Series}, volume = {42}, number = {1 BOOK 4}, year = {2010}, note = {cited By 0}, pages = {36-45}, abstract = {Inherently distributed systems are systems that are distributed by their own nature; in other words, they are composed of subsystems, which are physically and geographically separated. Examples of such systems are the distributed computer systems with various hosts geographically located; the wireless systems with a number of base and subscriber stations geographically separated; the satellite constellations, the military battlefields and so on. Such systems have, in many cases, been studied by use of Local Simulation (LS), in other words, a simulation run by a single host, or by use of Distributed Simulation (DS) in which the simulation system is divided into a number of federates, run by separate hosts for the scope of obtaining resource scalability and simulator reusability. In this paper, the DS approach is seen from a different point of view: a way to give higher representativeness to the simulation of inherently distributed systems. The approach consists of locating the federates in the same geographic positions of the subsystems that are designed to become part of the inherently distributed system. In this way, the distributed system can be studied in a very realistic way before being implemented. In this paper the problems and the advantages of this new DS approach are discussed and the technology is presented that supports and facilitates its introduction.}, keywords = {Computer simulation, Distributed approaches, Distributed simulations, HLA, Military battlefields, Reusability, Satellite constellations, Separation, Simulation in-the-loop, Simulation representativeness, Subscriber stations}, isbn = {9781617382048}, issn = {07359276}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84887064085\&partnerID=40\&md5=08dc921115e86c196b23a970cead2f1d}, author = {Iazeolla, G. and Pieroni, A. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Gianni, D.} } @conference {Iazeolla2010252, title = {A distributed approach to wireless system simulation}, booktitle = {6th Advanced International Conference on Telecommunications, AICT 2010}, year = {2010}, note = {cited By 4}, pages = {252-262}, abstract = {Many papers have been published that present simulation results for wireless systems, including WiMAX. All such papers do not deal with wireless simulation approaches, and simulation is only seen as a side-means to produce numerical results. This paper does not present simulation numerical predictions. It instead deals with new simulation approaches for wireless systems and presents simulation software technologies. From the approach point of view, the "local" versus the "distributed" simulation approach is investigated to wireless systems. From the technology point of view, two new software tools are presented, for a step forward with respect to existing tools to ease the development of distributed simulation systems. The tools consist of a new distributed simulation environment (wDSEnv) and a new distributed simulation language (wDSLang). Such tools are described and a detailed WiMAX local and distributed simulation example is developed. {\textcopyright} 2010 IEEE.}, keywords = {Computer simulation languages, Computer software, Distributed approaches, Distributed simulation environments, Distributed simulation systems, Distributed simulations, Fuzzy control, IEEE 802.16, Interoperability, Numerical analysis, Numerical predictions, Numerical results, Simulation approach, Simulation result, Simulation software, Software tool, Wimax, WiMax wireless, Wireless simulation, Wireless systems}, isbn = {9780769540214}, doi = {10.1109/AICT.2010.66}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-77955389670\&partnerID=40\&md5=b2c180074951949ca03eb646f638f842}, author = {Iazeolla, G. and Pieroni, A. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Gianni, D.} } @conference {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio2010122, title = {IEEE First Workshop on Collaborative Modeling and Simulation (CoMetS 2010)}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Workshop on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises, WETICE}, year = {2010}, note = {cited By 1}, pages = {122-123}, abstract = {The CoMetS workshop aims to bring together leading researchers and practitioners from both the modeling and simulation (M\&S) community and the collaborative environments community, in order to focus on innovative research contributions that address both the use of collaborative technologies in the field of M\&S and the use of M\&S methodologies and tools to address the design of collaborative systems. This paper reports on the motivations of the workshop and the organization of its first edition. {\textcopyright} 2010 IEEE.}, keywords = {Collaborative environments, Collaborative modeling, Collaborative systems, Collaborative technologies, Computer simulation, Computer supported cooperative work, Innovation, Innovative research, Modeling and simulation, Technical presentations}, isbn = {9780769540634}, issn = {15244547}, doi = {10.1109/WETICE.2010.25}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-77955896065\&partnerID=40\&md5=6be06dc91c58926a54face050988522b}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Gianni, D. and Fuchs, J. and Iazeolla, G.} } @conference {Gianni201031, title = {A methodology to predict the performance of distributed simulations}, booktitle = {Proceedings - Workshop on Principles of Advanced and Distributed Simulation, PADS}, year = {2010}, note = {cited By 5}, pages = {31-39}, abstract = {Predicting the time-performance of a Distributed Simulation (DS) system may be of interest to evaluate system alternatives during the development cycle, before the system is implemented. In this paper, we introduce a methodology to predict the execution time of a DS system during its design phase. The methodology is based on a model-building approach that, basing on the design documents of the DS system, first produces its performance model and then evaluates it. The model includes components such as middleware to use (e.g., the HLA RTI), the set of DS execution hosts and the set of host interconnection networks. The methodology is applied to determine whether or not producing the distributed simulator of a given system may be advantageous in terms of execution time with respect to a conventional local simulator. An example use of the methodology is presented and validated by a comparison of the time-prediction with the actual execution time of the implemented DS system. {\textcopyright} 2010 IEEE.}, keywords = {Building performance, Computer simulation, Design documents, Design phase, Development cycle, Distributed simulations, Execution time, Forecasting, Middleware, Model buildings, Performance Model, Simulation model}, isbn = {9781424472918}, doi = {10.1109/PADS.2010.5471669}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-77954092922\&partnerID=40\&md5=2d68a6f0b45ad790df832f3da1a2ad43}, author = {Gianni, D. and Iazeolla, G. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio} } @conference {Gianni2009, title = {Dissimjade: A framework for the development of agent-based distributed simulation systems}, booktitle = {SIMUTools 2009 - 2nd International ICST Conference on Simulation Tools and Techniques}, year = {2009}, note = {cited By 6}, publisher = {ICST}, organization = {ICST}, abstract = {The adoption of an agent-based approach that incorporates intelligence, adaptation and learning abilities has proved to significantly increase the realism and the accuracy of the simulation. Simulation systems of such a kind, however, require computational resources that might be considerable for a single agent, so to become unfeasible when the number of simulated agents scales up. A distributed environment is thus needed to allow the execution of such simulation systems, particularly in the case of scenarios populated by a large number of agents. Building an agent-based distributed simulation system, however, requires both specific expertise and knowledge of distributed simulation standards and a non-negligible amount of effort to develop ad-hoc components. This paper introduces a simulation framework named DisSimJADE, which enables the incorporation of distributed simulation facilities into existing agent-based systems. DisSimJADE is built on top of the popular agent-based framework JADE and allows to define agent-based simulation systems that can be transparently executed either in a local or distributed, therefore bringing significant savings in terms of effort and development time. In addition, DisSimJADE provides a uniform interface to the JADE framework, which further facilitates the production of distributed simulation systems to developers of JADE-based multi-agent systems.}, keywords = {Agent based simulation, Discrete event simulation, Distributed computer systems, Distributed simulations, Framework, HLA, Intelligent agents, JADE, Multi agent systems, Silicate minerals}, isbn = {9789639799455}, doi = {10.4108/ICST.SIMUTOOLS2009.5725}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84922896723\&partnerID=40\&md5=2916ed218703e0d34cb973b665080ff4}, author = {Gianni, D. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G.}, editor = {Stea G., Dalle O., Perrone L.F., Wainer G.} } @article {Gianni200967, title = {Ontology-based specification of simulation sequences}, journal = {International Journal of Simulation: Systems, Science and Technology}, volume = {10}, number = {2}, year = {2009}, note = {cited By 5}, pages = {67-78}, abstract = {The specification of a simulation model includes the description of the input sequences while the simulation output can be described by the produced sequences. The input sequences describe the characteristics of the simulated scenarios and are to be chosen in a way to preserve the real system representativeness; while the output sequences can be used as a proof of such representativeness. Producing the appropriate input sequences and validating the output sequences against the model specification is therefore fundamental to the validation of the simulation model. In this paper, we propose an ontology-based specification of simulation input sequences. The ontology gives a methodology to formalize the sequence specification and output sequence validation by providing the semantic basis for the sequences formal description. In the model specification, the input sequences are described in terms of ontology concepts and properties values, and in the model implementation the deployed sequences can be thus automatically derived by mapping them on the ontology concepts. Sequence validation may be carried out by establishing the congruence between the ontology concepts and the deployed sequences.}, keywords = {Computer simulation, Formal Description, Input sequence, Model implementation, Model specification, Model specifications, Ontology, Ontology concepts, Ontology-based, Output sequences, Real systems, Semantics, Simulation model, Specifications}, issn = {14738031}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-78650605223\&partnerID=40\&md5=cbdaef9e43630d47be542c7b08e0d72f}, author = {Gianni, D. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G.} } @article {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio2009625, title = {Simulation model building of traffic intersections}, journal = {Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory}, volume = {17}, number = {4}, year = {2009}, note = {cited By 9}, pages = {625-640}, abstract = {Designers of traffic systems might take advantage of the simulation-before-construction approach that allows them to study the behavior of a new or existing system by use of simulation models. Nevertheless, the use of simulation models is often hindered by the fact that the model building activity is a critical, time consuming and error prone activity if performed by use of experience and intuition only. Moreover, traffic designers do not usually have the necessary skills to effectively carry out system simulation. This paper overcomes such problems by introducing a model building method, thus enabling traffic designers to seamlessly introduce simulation-before-construction into their best practices. The method is applied to the building of simulation models of traffic intersections, with an example application to a real-world intersection. {\textcopyright} 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, keywords = {Automated model building, Best practices, Error-prone, Existing systems, Intersections, Model buildings, Model-building methods, Real-world, Simulation model production, Specifications, System simulations, Traffic control, Traffic intersection specification, Traffic simulation, Traffic systems}, issn = {1569190X}, doi = {10.1016/j.simpat.2008.11.001}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-62149138054\&partnerID=40\&md5=e6b0fba289eb046089cab4e9984ab819}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G. and Pasini, L. and Pieroni, A.} } @conference {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio2008460, title = {Distributed simulation of complex systems by use of an HLA-transparent simulation language}, booktitle = {2008 Asia Simulation Conference - 7th International Conference on System Simulation and Scientific Computing, ICSC 2008}, year = {2008}, note = {cited By 5}, pages = {460-467}, abstract = {The continuously decreasing cost of distributed systems gives academics and industry the advantage of using larger execution platforms and of reusing locally implemented software components. This is particularly true for the simulation of complex systems where the computational resources needed considerably increase with the model resolution and with the number of simulated entities. The development of such simulation systems, however, requires extra efforts compared to the conventional local ones. Example extra efforts are learning how to use the Distributed Simulation (DS) Standard (such as HLA) and the development of extra software for the synchronization and communication between the local and distributed environment. In this paper, we address the problem of defining a simulation language that can transparently support the development distributed simulation systems, by making the use of the DS standard transparent and also reducing the amount of extra software. The HLA transparent language we introduce is named jEQN, being Java-based and dealing with Extended Queueing Networks domains. The language approach, however, can be easily extended to any other DS Standard and modelling domain. {\textcopyright} 2008 IEEE.}, keywords = {Complex systems, Computational resources, Computer simulation languages, Computer software, Dielectric relaxation, Distributed environments, Distributed simulation systems, Distributed simulations, Distributed systems, Do-mains, Java programming language, Large scale systems, Linguistics, Model resolutions, Queueing networks, Simulation languages, Simulation systems, Software components, Standardization, Standards}, isbn = {9781424417872}, doi = {10.1109/ASC-ICSC.2008.4675405}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-58049176462\&partnerID=40\&md5=9610842bfbbce4f9f21f913927ec00c1}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Gianni, D. and Iazeolla, G. and Pieroni, A.} } @conference {Gianni2008, title = {A layered architecture for the model-driven development of distributed simulators}, booktitle = {SIMUTools 2008 - 1st International ICST Conference on Simulation Tools and Techniques for Communications, Networks and Systems}, year = {2008}, note = {cited By 12}, publisher = {ICST}, organization = {ICST}, abstract = {The development of a distributed simulator requires knowledge and skills that might be unavailable or difficult to acquire. Bringing model-driven approaches to the development of distributed simulators contributes to reduce both the need for specific skills and the development effort. To support this innovative development methodology, we introduce a layered simulation architecture named SimArch that allows to define simulation models that can be transparently transformed into simulation programs ready to be executed in a distributed (or local) mode. SimArch defines layers of services at increasing levels of abstraction on top of the execution environment, thus allowing developers to build distributed simulators without explicit knowledge about the execution environment (local/distributed) and the specific distributed simulation infrastructure (e.g., HLA). In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, SimArch has been provided with an Extended Queueing Network (EQN) simulation language, which has been applied to the development of an example distributed simulator in the computer network domain. Copyright {\textcopyright} 200F ICST 978-963-9799-20-2.}, keywords = {Computational linguistics, Computer networks, Computer simulation languages, Development methodology, Distributed computer systems, Distributed simulations, Execution environments, HLA, Model driven development, Network architecture, Network simulation, Queueing networks, Simulation architecture, Simulation framework, Simulators}, isbn = {9789639799233}, doi = {10.4108/ICST.SIMUTOOLS2008.3071}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84923272498\&partnerID=40\&md5=512ca53ab563e55634811dc6f2c01695}, author = {Gianni, D. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G.}, editor = {Heath J., Molnar S.} } @conference {Gianni2008171, title = {Producing simulation sequences by use of a java-based generalized framework}, booktitle = {Proceedings - EMS 2008, European Modelling Symposium, 2nd UKSim European Symposium on Computer Modelling and Simulation}, year = {2008}, note = {cited By 6}, pages = {171-176}, abstract = {The quality and representativeness of simulation results heavily depend on the sequence of numbers used in the experiments. When dealing with simulations of critical systems, it might be necessary to increase the representativeness of such results by running experiments with different sequences and to investigate the system behaviour in specific situations. In large models, however, managing sequence of numbers could become cumbersome and could attract the attention of simulation system developers on the input settings instead of model logic. In this paper, we present a component-based framework for sequence of numbers that offers a high degree of flexibility and raises the simulation system developers from the details of the input sequences while implementing the model logic. The sequences can be thus configured in a following phase and deployed in the simulation systems with almost no effort. {\textcopyright} 2008 IEEE.}, keywords = {Computer systems, Critical systems, Degree of flexibilities, Input sequences, Input settings, Magnetic properties, Magnetic susceptibility, Model logics, Simulation results, Simulation systems, System behaviours}, isbn = {9780769533254}, doi = {10.1109/EMS.2008.52}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-55849093564\&partnerID=40\&md5=e238b9497ca873aa74ae141c715dae45}, author = {Gianni, D. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G. and Pieroni, A.} } @article {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio2007605, title = {A method for the production of simulation models with application to web interaction paradigms}, journal = {Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory}, volume = {15}, number = {5}, year = {2007}, note = {cited By 2}, pages = {605-620}, abstract = {Modern internet and web applications rely on interactions among remote host computers connected by heterogeneous networks (different LANs, gateways, WANs, MANs, etc.). Simulation modelling such networks is of great importance to the web application designer to predict, at design time, performance metrics such as the end-to-end delay between hosts, which is dramatically increased by the various mechanisms necessary to deal with heterogeneity (protocol conversion, packet fragmentation and re-assembly, flow control, etc.). On the other hand, producing a simulation model of web interactions is a non-trivial task because of the great importance of the software aspects. It is thus necessary to provide general model production guidelines which can be then tailored and applied to specific simulation languages or packages. This paper gives such general production guidelines with an example application to the production of simulation models for web interaction paradigms of client-server and mobile agent types. An example use of the models is also introduced to predict the most convenient paradigm and the best choice of the host capacities for each given network configuration. {\textcopyright} 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, keywords = {Client-server, Computer simulation, Interaction paradigms, Internet, Mathematical models, Mobile agents, Network protocols, Object oriented programming, Object-oriented simulation, Servers, Simulation model production, Web applications}, issn = {1569190X}, doi = {10.1016/j.simpat.2004.06.009}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-34147118556\&partnerID=40\&md5=0f9139beebc9c61d01f2520a10350922}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G. and Pasini, L.} } @conference {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio2007210, title = {Software technologies for the interoperability and reusability of distributed simulators}, booktitle = {SISO European Simulation Interoperability Workshop 2007, EURO SIW 2007}, year = {2007}, note = {cited By 2}, pages = {210-219}, abstract = {Giving interoperability and reusability capabilities to distributed simulators is fundamental to the widespread use of distributed simulation. The HLA standard has introduced considerable improvements with respect to previous standards, though it suffers from shortcomings such as (1) lack of interoperability among different IEEE-compliant implementations, (2) no support to the adaptation and integration of individual federates and (3) poor reusability, which is limited to entire federates only. In this paper, we present two independent technologies that overcome such shortcomings. The first technology consists of a CORBA-HLA architecture that overcomes limitation (1), the second technology is a new development framework called SimJ that overcomes limitations (2) and (3). The CORBA-HLA architecture decouples federates from the specific HLA implementation so that federates can be effortlessly run on top of any HLA implementation that exposes services through an IEEE-complaint IDL interface. The SimJ framework eases the development of individual federates by providing a uniform and standard interface for local and distributed simulators, and makes it possible the reuse of components smaller than entire federates in both local and distributed simulators.}, keywords = {Adaptability, Common object request broker architecture (CORBA), Computer architecture, Computer software reusability, Distributed simulations, Framework, HLA, Interoperability, Middleware, Reusability, Simulators, Software technology, Standard interface, Technology}, isbn = {9781615671700}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84865354509\&partnerID=40\&md5=3cad39842c91176c439ae7bf7e6b17a1}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Gianni, D. and Iazeolla, G.} } @article {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio2006854, title = {JEQN a java-based language for the distributed simulation of queueing networks}, journal = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)}, volume = {4263 LNCS}, year = {2006}, note = {cited By 10}, pages = {854-865}, publisher = {Springer Verlag}, abstract = {The increasing pervasiveness of large scale networks is bringing distributed simulation (DS) to the reach of academic and business communities besides the traditional military ones. This gives academics and industry the advantage of using larger execution platforms and of reusing locally implemented simulation models as building blocks of much larger models. Developing a distributed simulator however requires learning how to use a given DS standard (such as HLA), that implies a non-negligible amount of effort. This paper addresses the problem of defining a language that can equivalently support the development of local or distributed simulators, making the use of the DS standard transparent. The HLA standard is dealt with, but the method can be extended to any other DS standard. The language (called JEQN) addresses the extended queueing network (EQN) domain, and thus it also includes primitives to facilitate the development of queueing network distributed simulators. {\textcopyright} Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.}, keywords = {Computer simulation, Distributed computer systems, Distributed simulation (DS), Extended queueing network (EQN), Java programming language, Mathematical models, Problem solving, Queueing networks}, isbn = {3540472428; 9783540472421}, issn = {03029743}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-33845266519\&partnerID=40\&md5=0bd7180b65ff7614c02cf24a74b70473}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Gianni, D. and Iazeolla, G.} } @conference {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio2006149, title = {SimJ: A framework to develop distributed simulators}, booktitle = {Summer Computer Simulation Conference 2006, SCSC{\textquoteright}06, Part of the 2006 Summer Simulation Multiconference, SummerSim{\textquoteright}06}, year = {2006}, note = {cited By 10}, pages = {149-156}, abstract = {A distributed simulation (DS) is based on the use of several simulators distributed over a network infrastructure. Existing DS standards (e.g., HLA) only specify distribution services without giving support for developing individual simulators in a way to be compliant to the given standard. Traditionally, the development of individual simulators was facilitated by use of simulation languages (e.g., Csim, Arena, Extend, Modline, etc.) which however do not provide support to obtain interaction according to a given DS standard. The extension of such languages to include DS support is very problematic, especially in case of proprietary languages. For these reasons, the development of DS-compliant individual simulators is mostly done by use of standard programming languages (e.g., C, Java, etc.) with the additional effort of developing simulation mechanisms, model components and interfaces to the DS standard. This paper introduces SimJ, a Java library that minimizes such efforts, so that simulators can be developed as to be run on a single local host and can then be partitioned to be run over a set of networked hosts according to a given DS standard. The simulators SimJ addresses are discreteevent simulators (DES) and are easily portable to different DS standards. The paper illustrates the design guidelines of SimJ and presents an example use based on the HLA DS standard.}, keywords = {C (programming language), Computer simulation languages, Discrete event simulation, Discrete-event simulators, Distributed simulations, Distribution services, HLA, Java, Java library, Model components, Network infrastructure, Simulation mechanisms, Simulators, Standard programming language, Standardization}, isbn = {9781622763528}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-50149099672\&partnerID=40\&md5=d2720c3ec54b8e318b0231b9ab847d3a}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Gianni, D. and Iazeolla, G.} } @conference {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio2005366, title = {Design of XMI-based tools for building EQN models of software systems}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference on Software Engineering: part of the 23rd IASTED International Multi-Conference on Applied Informatics, SE 2005}, year = {2005}, note = {cited By 4}, pages = {366-371}, abstract = {Research in software development is proving that model building during product development is essential to product validation. Indeed the model can be used in the early stages of the product lifecycle to predict the product compliance with the user performance requirements. This paper deals with software performance model building. Only a few methods and tools have been introduced for performance model automatic building, which would be of great interest to software developers, since existing performance methods and tools require a deep knowledge of performance theory. This paper illustrates the design of a tool for automatically building software performance models. The produced model is a queueing network. The design is based on recently published standards like MOF and XMI, that facilitate the easy interchange of models between different tools (e.g., software development tools, evaluation tools, etc.).}, keywords = {Automatic buildings, Design, Information science, Java programming language, Model buildings, MOF, Product compliance, Product development, Queueing networks, Software development tools, Software engineering, Software performance, Software performance modeling, Tools, UML, XMI}, isbn = {0889864640; 9780889864641}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84882959712\&partnerID=40\&md5=5efce578e953ca65d5eff685949b9a32}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G.} } @article {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio2005127, title = {Metadata-driven design of integrated environments for software performance validation}, journal = {Journal of Systems and Software}, volume = {76}, number = {2}, year = {2005}, note = {cited By 5}, pages = {127-146}, abstract = {Lifecycle validation of the performance of software products (i.e., the prediction of the product ability to satisfy the user performance requirements) encompasses the production of performance models from CASE documents. The model production activity is a critical, time-consuming and error-prone activity so that lifecycle validation is still not widely accepted and applied. The reason is twofold: the lack of methods for the automatic derivation of software performance models from CASE documents and the lack of environments that implement and integrate such methods. A number of methods for the automatic derivation of software performance models from CASE documents has been already proposed in literature, without however solving the automation problem. This paper instead faces up to such problem, by introducing an integrated and standards-based environment for the automatic derivation and evaluation of queueing-based performance models. The environment is based on the use of standards for metadata exchange (MOF, XMI), to ease the integration of the most common UML-based CASE tools, thus enabling software designers to smoothly introduce performance validation activities into their best development practices. {\textcopyright} 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.}, keywords = {Codes (standards), Computer aided software engineering, Computer simulation, Lifecycle validation, Metadata, Metamodeling, Performance, Quality control, Software environments, Software performance, XML}, issn = {01641212}, doi = {10.1016/j.jss.2004.04.014}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-11144271040\&partnerID=40\&md5=36f844fc57fc3cf9ba5a51344b5472d2}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G.} } @conference {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio200544, title = {Performance model building of pervasive computing}, booktitle = {Proceedings - 2005 Workshop on Techniques, Methodologies and Tools for Performance Evaluation of Complex Systems, FIRB-Perf 2005}, volume = {2005}, year = {2005}, note = {cited By 3}, pages = {44-53}, abstract = {Performance model building is essential to predict the ability of an application to satisfy given levels of performance or to support the search for viable alternatives. Using automated methods of model building is becoming of increasing interest to software developers who have neither the skills nor the time to do it manually. This is particularly relevant in pervasive computing, where the large number of software and hardware components requires models of so large a size that using traditional manual methods of model building would be error prone and time consuming. This paper deals with an automated method to build performance models of pervasive computing applications, which require the integration of multiple technologies, including software layers, hardware platforms and wired/wireless networks. The considered performance models are of extended queueing network (EQN) type. The method is based on a procedure that receives as input the UML model of the application to yield as output the complete EQN model, which can then be evaluated by use of any evaluation tool. {\textcopyright} 2005 IEEE.}, keywords = {Automation, Computer software, Distributed computer systems, Extended queuing network (EQN), Manual control, Mathematical models, Performance models, Pervasive computing, Query languages, Software engineering, Wireless networks}, isbn = {0769524478; 9780769524474}, doi = {10.1109/FIRB-PERF.2005.15}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-33846989003\&partnerID=40\&md5=3ba663ef9a7a1338b9485fda4973b320}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G.} } @article {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio2004584, title = {Model-driven maintenance of QoS characteristics in heterogeneous networks}, journal = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)}, volume = {3280}, year = {2004}, note = {cited By 0}, pages = {584-593}, publisher = {Springer Verlag}, abstract = {System QoS maintenance is the activity intended to maintain the system QoS at acceptable levels. The activity consists of continuously measuring the system QoS characteristics and adjusting the system parameters that affect them. This paper introduces a model-driven approach to the maintenance of QoS characteristics in heterogeneous networks that support geographically distributed processing services. The model is used as an on-line tool that enables network managers to rapidly adjust the network parameters to maintain the network QoS characteristics at required levels. The on-line use of the model requires short model evaluation times, which are obtained by use of a multi-level hierarchical hybrid technique. The application to the maintenance of timerelated and capacity-related network QoS characteristics is illustrated. {\textcopyright} Springer-Verlag 2004.}, keywords = {Distributed processing, Heterogeneous networks, Hybrid techniques, Maintenance, Model driven approach, Model evaluation, Model-driven, Network managers, Network parameters, On-line tools}, issn = {03029743}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-35048850389\&partnerID=40\&md5=21de7002295472f48770051c819654c3}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and De Person{\'e}, V.N. and Iazeolla, G.} } @article {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio200329, title = {Steps towards the automatic production of performance models of web applications}, journal = {Computer Networks}, volume = {41}, number = {1}, year = {2003}, note = {cited By 14}, pages = {29-39}, abstract = {

The automatic production of performance models of software products can encourage software designers to include performance validation in their best practices. The incorporation of methods for automatic production can also be of interest of CASE tool vendors to improve the capabilities of their commercial software development environments. This paper deals with a method that introduces a systematic approach towards the automatic production of performance models of web applications (i.e. software applications run on web platforms). The method takes in input two sets of data, the description of the platform architecture (a general view of the system platform and a detailed view of the packet flow in the platform itself) and a set of data that describes the workload imposed on the platform by the application. The produced model is an extended queueing network ready to be used by conventional evaluation tools to derive predictions on the performance of the software applications. An example is given of the method application, in which predictions of the performance of the application are obtained versus various combinations of the processing powers of the interacting hosts. {\textcopyright} 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

}, keywords = {Computer aided software engineering, Computer software, Packet networks, Performance, Performance prediction, Queueing networks, World Wide Web}, issn = {13891286}, doi = {10.1016/S1389-1286(02)00324-9}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-0037437673\&partnerID=40\&md5=03d6a60f12ce2896f634526eeeb2605e}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G.} } @article {Cortellessa200181, title = {Automatic derivation of software performance models from CASE documents}, journal = {Performance Evaluation}, volume = {45}, number = {2-3}, year = {2001}, note = {cited By 27}, pages = {81-105}, abstract = {Lifecycle validation of software performance (or prediction of the product ability to satisfy the user performance-requirements) is based on the automatic derivation of software performance models from CASE documents or rapid prototypes. This paper deals with the CASE document alternative. After a brief overview of existing automatic derivation methods, it introduces a method that unifies existing techniques that use CASE documents. The method is step-wise clear, can be used from the early phases of the software lifecycle, is distributed-software oriented, and can be easily incorporated into modern (e.g., UML-based) CASE tools. The method enables the software designer with no specific knowledge of performance theory to predict at design time the performance of various final product alternatives. The designer does only need to feed the CASE documents into the performance model generator. The paper carries on an application case study that deals with the development of distributed software, where the method is used to predict the performance of different distributed architectures the designer could select at preliminary design time to obtain the best performing final product. The method can be easily incorporated into modern object-oriented software development environments to encourage software designers to introduce lifecycle performance validation into their development best practices. {\textcopyright} 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.}, keywords = {Computer aided software engineering, Computer architecture, Distributed computer systems, Distributed software, Systems analysis, User interfaces}, issn = {01665316}, doi = {10.1016/S0166-5316(01)00036-0}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-0035400344\&partnerID=40\&md5=c4fbe1a264e5fde474ce1c0eabbaedcb}, author = {Cortellessa, V. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G.} } @article {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio199749, title = {CORBA-based approach to design gateways for multidatabase systems}, journal = {Journal of Engineering and Applied Science}, year = {1997}, note = {cited By 0}, pages = {49-54}, publisher = {Cairo Univ, Cairo, Egypt}, abstract = {

A MDBS (Multi Data Base System) is a system that provides access to data from a collection of DBSs (Data Base Systems), called component DBSs, that are heterogeneous and distributed. The integration of the component DBSs into the MDBS is performed by a complex of functions termed gateway. This paper describes the design of a gateway based on the distributed object computing (DOC) approach, and compliant to the CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) standard. The approach is shown to introduce savings in design complexity and cost. The details of the approach are described in a gateway case study for the integration of a relational DBS into a MDBS.

}, keywords = {CORBA-based approach, Costs, Database systems, Design, Information infrastructure, Information management, Standards}, issn = {11101903}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-0031361885\&partnerID=40\&md5=fe80867dceaf0e573e86d141fd1b40d1}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Iazeolla, G.}, editor = {Anon} }