Model Architecture Verification and Validation Tools - Extending the Use of Colored Petri Nets for Designing Command and Control Systems

"Colored Petri Nets (CPNs) are now accepted as a powerful and general graphical language for designing complex systems. Several CPN editors, including Modasco's VSO Design, are now available or in development. However, these tools do not restrict the modelarchitect to realistic designs that satisfy the system's physical and functional requirements. Recent investigations by Modasco indicate that VSO Design can perform model architecture verification and validation during the design phase, insuring that themodels it generates satisfy the system requirements. The architectural building blocks (entities) of a system can be identified and stored in a database along with rules describing how these entities can be associated. The proposed verification andvalidation tool restricts alternative CPN designs to the predefined entity set and the entity associations. Additionally, designers can create a validated model and store it as a special entity type for later reuse. This is the first step to developing atrue Collaborative Virtual Prototyping environment allowing multiple users, working remotely, to build validated subsystem models that can be assembled into larger, more complex systems. An important and timely application of this technology is themodeling and evaluation of evacuation plans as a part of an overall Homeland Defense strategy."