Control system simulation system and method

A method to operate a communication package in a simulation system, comprising:

• receiving an instruction from a simulation executive to execute a simulation step on a plurality of virtual controllers, wherein each of the plurality of virtual controllers comprises a controller model comprising a plurality of simulation steps;
• waiting for each of the plurality of virtual controllers to complete a previous simulation step;
• instructing each of the plurality of virtual controllers to write a result of the previous simulation step to a shared memory;
• instructing each of the plurality of virtual controllers to read an input from the shared memory;
• instructing each of the plurality of virtual controllers to begin execution of the simulation step to enable each of the virtual controllers to execute the simulation step in parallel;
• and
• transmitting a complete status to the simulation executive without waiting for the plurality of virtual controllers to complete the simulation step.

A simulation system configured to simulate operation of a control system, comprising:

• a processor configured to execute:
• a simulation executive configured to coordinate operation of the simulation system;
• a plurality of virtual controllers, wherein each of the plurality of virtual controllers comprises a controller model comprising a plurality of simulation steps to simulate operation of a physical controller, and each of the plurality of virtual controllers is configured to execute simulation steps in parallel with the other of the plurality of virtual controllers;
• and
• a communication interface communicatively coupled to the simulation executive and the plurality of virtual controllers, wherein the communication interface is configured to:
• receive an instruction from the simulation executive to execute a simulation step;
• instruct each of the plurality of virtual controllers to begin execution of the simulation step in parallel;
• and
• transmit a complete status to the simulation executive upon beginning execution of the simulation step in each of the plurality of virtual controllers.