The OsMoSys approach to multi-formalism modelling of systems.

Analysis and simulation of complex systems are facilitated by the availability of appropriate modeling formalisms and tools. In many cases, no single analysis and modeling method can successfully cope with all aspects of a complex system: a multi-formalism multisolution approach is very appealing, since it offers the possibility of applying the most suitable formalisms and solution techniques to model and analyze different components or aspects of a system. Another important feature that a successfull modeling approach should include is the possibility of reusing (sub)models: by composing parameterized submodels and then instantiating the parameters, complete models of different scenarios can be obtained and analyzed. This paper introduces an innovative approach to multi-formalism modeling of systems that is part of the OsMoSys (Object-based multi-formaliSm MOdeling of SYStems) framework. OsMoSys uses the proposed modeling approach to build multi-formalism models, and workflow management to achieve multi-solution. Our modeling approach is based on meta-modeling, allowing to easily define and integrate different formalisms, and on some concepts from object orientation. Its main objectives are the interoperability of different formalisms and the definition of mechanisms to guarantee the flexibility and the scalability of the modeling framework