Foundations and Research Agenda for Simulation of Smart Ecosystems Architectures

The expected evolution of software-intensive systems has led to the emergence of complex systems in which smart ecosystems are representative. All life cycle phases of these ecosystems, from requirements engineering to maintenance (particularly the architectural design), are also complex. Approaches to the architecture evaluation of such complex systems are necessary, and simulation can be considered relevant and a good candidate. This work is positioned in this scenario and provides an overview of simulation of smart ecosystems architectures. We present concepts associated with simulation, known simulation technologies, such as DEVS and FERAL, and summarize our experience with the simulation of different ecosystems. Moreover, we observe several difficulties, challenges, and research opportunities that still exist and that should be carried forward to mature the field of smart ecosystems simulation.