INTEGRATED MODELING TOOL FOR PERFORMANCE ENGINEERING OF COMPLEX COMPUTER SYSTEMS

DURING THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPLEX COMPUTER SYSTEMS, PERFORMANCE ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES ARE OFTEN NOT APPLIED OR ARE MISAPPLIED WHICH RESULTS IN SYSTEMS THAT DO NOT MEET THESPECIFIED PERFORMANCE CRITERIA OR MUST UNDERGO COSTLY REDESIGNS. AN INTEGRATED COMPUTER SYSTEM MODELING LANGUAGE OVERCOMES THE DEFICIENCIES OR TRADITIONAL ANALYTIC AND SIMULATION MODELING TOOLS BY EXPLOITING THE STRENGTHS FROM BOTH DISCIPLINES. BEFORE SUCH A TOOL CAN BE DEVELOPED, THE FOLLOWING THREE TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES MUST BE RESEARCHED. (1) DEFINITION OF THE INFORMATION THAT ANALYTIC MODELING TECHNIQUES CAN EMPLOY, (2) DEFINITION OF THE INFORMATION THAT SIMULATION TECHNIQUES CAN EMPLOY, AND (3) DEFINITION OF A MODELING LANGUAGE AND MODEL INPUT DATA STRUCTURE THAT ALLOWS THE INFORMATION REQUIRED BY ANALYTIC TECHNIQUES TO BEDERIVED BUT DOES NOT RESTRICT THE CAPABILITIES OF THE SIMULATION TECHNIQUE. THE PROPOSED PHASE I RESEARCH WILL ADDRESS THESE TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES BY DEVELOPING A SPECIFICATION FOR AN INTEGRATED MODELING LANGUAGE AND THE INPUT/OUTPUT REQUIREMENTS FOR A TRANSLATOR THAT ACCEPTS THE LANGUAGE CONSTRUCTS AND GENERATES THE INFORMATION REQUIRED BY THE TWO MODELING TECHNIQUES. THE ANALYTIC TOOL WILL BE USED BY SYSTEM ENGINEERS EARLY IN THE DESIGN EFFORT TO PERFORM OPTIMIZATION STUDIES SO THAT THE MOST COST EFFECTIVEALTERNATIVES CAN BE ANALYZED IN DETAIL USING THE SIMULATION MODEL.