Dynamic Co-Simulation of Internet-of-Things-Components using a Multi-Agent-System

The heterogeneity and dynamic of IoT-systems pose new challenges for their simulation, which can be met by a modular co-simulation. Therefore several existing co-simulation approaches are presented and evaluated. A new concept for a dynamic co-simulation of IoT-systems utilizing a multi-agent-system is presented, wherein each IoT-component is simulated in a separate simulation tool. Each separate simulation is represented by an agent, and therefore able to enter a running co-simulation dynamically during runtime, which allows for a “Plug-and-Simulate” behavior. The connection between agents and simulation tools is realized by an interface concept. The presented concept is evaluated by a prototypical implementation.