SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COSIMULATION OF HETEROGENOUS SYSTEMS

A cosimulation system formed from a hierarchy of simulation objects. Each simulation object, other than the root object, is coupled to a respective parent simulation object by a respective, individual parent-child binding. Each parent-child binding defines a source in the respective parent simulation object for each input signal associated with the respective child simulation object, and also specifies a destination in the parent simulation object for each output signal generated by the child simulation object. Synchronization of simulation objects is handled on an individual parent-child basis, rather than a global basis. Each of the simulation objects has an interface for communicating with its respective children and parent simulation objects. These interfaces all use the same predefined protocol, and send messages to each other via a common protocol communications medium. Some simulation objects include a watchdog module for stopping simulation of the respective subsystem whenever a specified condition on a specified input or output signal of the respective subsystem is satisfied. The watchdog mechanism allows a child simulation object to be synchronized with important signal transitions in the parent simulation object, and vice versa.