A Model Identity Card to Support Simulation Model Development Process in a Collaborative Multidisciplinary Design Environment.

Summary In a multidisciplinary virtual prototype development project, OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) take the responsibility of requirement specification, system design, and Integration and Verification and Validation (IVV) steps. This is followed by the supplier, which develops the domain level simulation models. Although the simulation model is tested at the supplier level and the OEMs are responsible for the final integration, system and acceptance testing to ensure that the given implementation of a system level simulation model meets its intended goals. However, in current system IVV practices, OEM detects any kind of inconsistencies problems during final integration stage. This significantly increases the risk that errors are found late in the development process. This may create unexpected rework that negatively affects cost and schedule. The aim of this work is to reduce the late inconsistency detection by ensuring the early stage collaboration with a clear simulation model request and design artifact negotiation. For this aim, this paper proposes an early stage virtual prototyping design that contains the formal system architecture design, Model Identity Card (MIC) and Model of Intention (MoI) concepts. An industrial case study is used to show how such mentioned early stage virtual prototyping might reduce the knowledge gap and inconsistencies problems between OEMs and model providers.