考慮到模擬專案的主要成功因素─溝通以及互動，我們提出一個包含群體溝通以及模組設計的整合架構，在網際網路上建構一協作式以網路為主之離散事件系統（DEVS）模擬環境，以不同於一般僅是個人獨自運作的網路模擬。
在整個建模的過程中，系統會利用一份包含模組描述的XML文件將之自動轉換為相對應的DEVS圖形耦合模型以及其程式碼，由於不同地方的模擬專案成員在建模時是根據相同的XML文件所轉換出來的模組，因此群體成員在我們所開發的環境下將可以同時針對此一模組提供意見及見解。本論文亦使用一個例子來展示說明群體互動如何促進並改善以網路為主之模擬模型設計。

In view of the fact that communication and interaction are major factors to the success of a simulation project, this thesis presents an integrated architecture with group communication and model design which is implemented to form a collaborative Web-based DEVS (Discrete Event System Specification) simulation environment over the Internet. The system we developed shows a paradigm-shifting activity to differ from the so-called one person alone Web-based simulation. During the entire modeling process our system will utilize an XML document and present its corresponding DEVS digraph-model applet and model code frame so that users in different places could view the same model and exchange their opinions and comments at the same time thus producing better result. This thesis also demonstrates our implementation with a modeling example to illustrate how group interaction is to facilitate and improve the Web-based model design.

摘要 v
Abstract vi
Acknowledgements vii
Table of Contents viii
List of Figures x
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Background and Motivation 2
1.2 Objective 4
1.3 Research Considerations 4
1.4 Organization of This Thesis 5
Chapter 2 DEVS Formalism and XML Model Builder 7
2.1 Basic Simulation Concepts 7
2.2 Overview of the DEVS Formalism 9
2.3 Modularity and Model Base in Hierarchical Modeling 11
2.4 System Entity Structure (SES) 15
2.5 The XML Model Builder 19
Chapter 3 System Architecture and Implementation 22
3.1 The Software Architecture 22
3.2 DOMParser 25
3.3 Modeling Module 26
3.4 Coupling Module 29
3.5 Cooperation and Communication on the WWW 32
3.6 Implementation Detail 33
Chapter 4 The Modeling Example 37
4.1 An Example Model 37
4.1.1 Problem Statement 37
4.1.2 Model Implementation 38
4.2 Web-based Simulation Modeling 40
4.2.1 Digraph-model Applet 40
4.2.2 Group Collaboration 46
4.3 Pruning the System Entity Structure 47
4.4 Summary 50
Chapter 5 Conclusions 51
5.1 Conclusion 51
5.2 Future Work 52
References 53

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