An interactive PC-based real-time simulator using an object-oriented approach

An interactive real-time vehicle simulator has been developed on an IBM PS/2 486 PC. The authors describe an object-oriented approach used to logically model the physical system of an automobile. They concentrate on the software issues in a real-time design. This design is specific to a vehicle simulator used for traction control. The software structure reflects the structure of the application problem, since everything can be represented as objects and messages. It promotes a smooth transition from system analysis all the way to the actual code. The inherent parallelism in the software system can be modeled naturally. The data abstraction and encapsulation reduces the interdependencies between the software components and consequently facilitates modification. The inheritance mechanism also allows reuse of the code enhancing maintainability. The application domain and the object model are described in detail