A virtual system approach for distributed simulation of complex systems

Complex systems studies demand multidisciplinarity of domains and representation multiformalism. We propose a distributed simulation approach based on the notion of virtual system which allows to disregard multiformalism and multidisciplinarity. This abstraction uses encapsulation. We would like to notice that we do not deal with distributed simulation synchronisation. We assume that the corresponding primitives are available. The main problem we are concerned with is the organisation of the complex system according to the way it is made of. For this, our contribution emphasises hiding information. To do it, we firstly propose a virtual system formal definition. Then we define its coupling rules since the bottom-up approach can be used. Next we give a virtual system structure, then we tackle interoperability between these systems as a consequence of virtual systems and finally we compare our approach to that of Michel and Wiels (1997).