Research Article
Engineering Ecosystem Models: Semantics and Pragmatics
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-030-97124-3_21, author={Tristan Caulfield and Marius-Constantin Ilau and David Pym}, title={Engineering Ecosystem Models: Semantics and Pragmatics}, proceedings={Simulation Tools and Techniques. 13th EAI International Conference, SIMUtools 2021, Virtual Event, November 5-6, 2021, Proceedings}, proceedings_a={SIMUTOOLS}, year={2022}, month={3}, keywords={Distributed systems Ecosystems Modelling Compositionality Interfaces Local reasoning}, doi={10.1007/978-3-030-97124-3_21} }- Tristan Caulfield
Marius-Constantin Ilau
David Pym
Year: 2022
Engineering Ecosystem Models: Semantics and Pragmatics
SIMUTOOLS
Springer
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-97124-3_21
Abstract
In a world of ever-increasing complexity, the smooth functioning of society is critically dependent on our ability to understand and manage both individual systems and complex ecosystems of systems. Models, combined with tools to reason about them, can provide a way to do this. In order for rigorous reasoning about models to be possible, they must have a robust mathematical foundation, which must also support tools for the engineering principles—compositionality, interfaces, and local reasoning—that are required to enable the practical construction of models of ecosystems. In this paper, we present a vision for a system of modelling, based on the concept of distributed systems as a metaphor for ecosystems of systems, that captures these requirements. We describe a mathematical foundation, identify the engineering principles needed, and show how they can be built in a rigorous way that preserves the ability to reason when dealing with complex, large-scale ecosystem models. We illustrate our ideas with examples and briefly explain how they apply in a practical modelling project.
