Application of a Model-Driven Approach to the Development of Distributed Simulations: the ESA HRAF Case

The development of complex autonomous robotic systems is critical for building future planetary exploration missions at the European Space Agency (ESA). In this context, ESA started the Harwell Robotics and Autonomy Facility (HRAF) project, whose main objective is to provide an effective support for the integration, validation and verification of autonomy components. The HRAF architecture is founded on both HLA (High Level Architecture) as a distributed simulation middleware, and the Distributed Simulation Engineering and Execution Process (DSEEP) as the adopted reference process for building HLA-based simulations. The current Pilot 3 phase of the HRAF development plan deals with the development and validation of a model-driven framework for supporting the semi-automated generation of HLA-based simulations. In this respect, this paper illustrates how model-driven approaches and technologies have been investigated and applied to achieve the HRAF Pilot 3 goals, along with the related implementation and validation issues.