Lightweight Immersion Techniques for Acumen

Abstract: Modeling and simulation have always been essential steps in innovation, the processesof developing new products. This is especially the case for cyber-physical systems, whichare complex systems of networked physical and computational components. Modelingplays a key role in model-based design. Immersion techniques speed up the modelingprocess by presenting the design more intuitively. This thesis investigates the possibilityof improving support of immersion in Acumen, a free and open source software platformfor modeling and simulation of cyber-physical systems. To be consistent with theopen and free nature of Acumen, we investigate immersion options that would not entailadded cost to users.This thesis shows that it is possible to allow users to interact with an Acumen model, simulateand animate them simultaneously, and synchronize the simulation with real worldtime. The results show that the immersion techniques can be easily used without degradingthe performance of Acumen simulation, and help users understand and developAcumen models. Finally, we show why it is important to build a hardware independent3D visualization for Acumen, namely, that it allows users to use Acumen without acumbersome set-up process.iii