AN OBJECT-ORIENTED SIMULATION ARCHITECTURE WITH REAL-TIME CAPABILITIES

Simulation that approximates real-time system response has previously been used to train operators in the use of system controllers. These s imulations typically use architectures that are highly specific and ti ghtly coupled to the system hardware. A formalized generic real-time s imulation architecture is presented to decouple the simulation and pro vide a mechanism for implementation and rapid reconfiguration. This ar chitecture distributes the state variables in the system by coupling t hem with manufacturing process equipment, specifically for the continu ous process industries such as chemical, food and pharmaceutical. This design provides a mechanism for rapidly interchanging manufacturing e quipment and simulation model components for discrete and continuous s imulation, that facilitates operator training.