Recording medium, simulation method, and simulation device

A simulation method implementable with a simulation device to simulate an operation of a programmable controller and an operation of a system operable based on an output from the programmable controller, the method comprising:

• acquiring, with an acquirer, an execution program executable by the programmable controller to generate the output from the programmable controller, and system configuration information indicating a configuration of the system;
• performing, with a simulator, simulations of the operation of the programmable controller and the operation of the system by synchronizing, in predetermined cycles, a first simulation time of a virtual controller corresponding to the programmable controller and a second simulation time of a virtual system built based on the system configuration information and causing the virtual system to operate based on a virtual output acquired from the virtual controller executing the execution program;
• acquiring, with the acquirer, a stop instruction to stop the simulations performed with the simulator simulation means;
• and
• stopping, with the simulator, when the stop instruction is acquired with the acquirer, the simulations of the operation of the virtual controller and the operation of the virtual system at a timing of the predetermined cycle to synchronize the first simulation time and the second simulation time,
• wherein the virtual system includes a plurality of components including a component having two or more input terminals, two or more output terminals, or both,
• each of a plurality of elements included in the virtual system is connected to another element of the plurality of elements, performs at least one of receiving a signal output from the other element of the plurality of elements or transmitting a signal to the other element of the plurality of elements, and has, when receiving the signal from the other element of the plurality of elements, a state changeable based on the signal, each of the plurality of elements being corresponding to the input terminal or the output terminal of the component of the plurality of components,
• the system configuration information indicates the plurality of elements, a connection relationship between the plurality of elements, and information about the state of each of the plurality of elements including dependent relationship indicating a state of the output terminal depending on a state of the input terminal of the component,
• the simulator generates a directed acyclic graph for the plurality of elements based on the system configuration information, performs topological sorting on the generated directed acyclic graph to determine the sequence of the plurality of elements, and simulates a change in the state of each of the plurality of elements in the determined sequence.

A simulation device for simulating an operation of a programmable controller and an operation of a system operable based on an output from the programmable controller, the simulation device comprising:

• processing circuitry to
• acquire an execution program executable by the programmable controller to generate the output from the programmable controller and acquire system configuration information indicating a configuration of the system;
• and
• perform simulations of the operation of the programmable controller and the operation of the system by synchronizing, in predetermined cycles, a first simulation time of a virtual controller corresponding to the programmable controller and a second simulation time of a virtual system built based on the system configuration information and causing the virtual system to operate based on a virtual output acquired from the virtual controller executing the execution program,
• wherein the virtual system includes a plurality of components including a component having two or more input terminals, two or more output terminals, or both,
• each of a plurality of elements included in the virtual system is connected to another element of the plurality of elements, performs at least one of receiving a signal output from the other element of the plurality of elements or transmitting a signal to the other element of the plurality of elements, and has, when receiving the signal from the other element of the plurality of elements, a state changeable based on the signal, each of the plurality of elements being corresponding to the input terminal or the output terminal of the component of the plurality of components,
• the system configuration information indicates the plurality of elements, a connection relationship between the plurality of elements, and information about the state of each of the plurality of elements including dependent relationship indicating a state of the output terminal depending on a state of the input terminal of the component,
• the processing circuitry generates a directed acyclic graph for the plurality of elements based on the system configuration information, performs topological sorting on the generated directed acyclic graph to determine the sequence of the plurality of elements, and simulates a change in the state of each of the plurality of elements in the determined sequence,
• the processing circuitry acquires a stop instruction to stop the performed simulations, and
• the processing circuitry stops, when acquiring the stop instruction, the simulations of the operation of the virtual controller and the operation of the virtual system at a timing of the predetermined cycle to synchronize the first simulation time and the second simulation time.