Virtual prototyping, object-oriented modeling and intelligent knowledge capture for system design

Knowledge-based modeling and simulation bridges the gap between conventional artificial intelligence implementations (such as expert systems) and more traditional computer-aided design and modeling techniques. The authors are currently developing object-oriented software whose primary function is to capture a user-input design specification and produce a rapid prototype in the form of executable rule-based code. This code can then be exercised either as an interactive part of a hybrid (hardware-in-the-loop) testbed simulator or as a component of either a conventional procedural simulation or an object-oriented behavioral simulation. The system architecture and software tools that the authors are applying to generate rapid prototypes for use in PHALANX testbed applications are described here. An application currently in use as an investigative prototype for testbed development, a single position-controller servomechanism used to control the azimuth angle of a target-tracking sensor, is used to illustrate some interesting aspects of the rapid prototyping process