ABSTRACT: Modeling and Simulation methods have been used to better analyze the behavior of complex physical systems and it is now common to use simulation as a part of the scientific and technological discovery process. M&S advanced thanks to the improvements in computer technology, which, in many cases, resulted in the development of simulation software using ad-hoc techniques.

Formal M&S appeared in order to try to improve the development task of very complex simulation systems. Some of these techniques proved to be successful in providing a sound base for the development of discrete-event simulation models, improving the ease of model definition and enhancing the application development tasks; reducing costs and favoring reuse. 
The DEVS formalism is one of these techniques, which proved to be successful in providing means for modeling while reducing development complexity and costs. DEVS model development is based on a sound theoretical framework. The independence of M&S tasks made possible to run DEVS models on different environments (personal computers, parallel computers, real-time equipment, and distributed simulators) and middleware. 
We will present a historical perspective of discrete-event M&S methodologies, showing different modeling techniques. We will introduce DEVS origins and general ideas, and compare it with some of these techniques. We will then show the current status of DEVS M&S, and we will discuss a technological perspective to solve current M&S problems (including real-time simulation, interoperability and model-centered development techniques). We will show some examples of the current use of DEVS, including applications in different fields. 
We will finally show current open topics in the area, which include advanced methods for centralized, parallel or distributed simulation, the need of real-time modeling techniques, and our view in these fields.

BIO: GABRIEL WAINER, FSCS, received the M.Sc. (1993) at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the Ph.D. (1998, with highest honors) at UBA/Université d’Aix-Marseille III, France. In July 2000, he joined the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University (Ottawa, ON, Canada), where he is now Full Professor. He has held visiting positions at the University of Arizona; LSIS (CNRS), Université Paul Cézanne, University of Nice, INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, Université de Bordeaux (France); UCM, UPM, UPC (Spain), University of Buenos Aires, National University of Rosario (Argentina) and others. He is one of the founders of the SCS/ACM/IEEE Symposium on Theory of Modeling and Simulation, SIMUTools and SCS/ACM/IEEE SimAUD. Prof. Wainer was Vice-President Conferences and Vice-President Publications and is a member of the Board of Directors of the SCS, Society for Modeling and Simulation International. He has published over 400 research articles and five books in the field of Modeling and Simulation. Prof. Wainer is Editor in Chief of SIMULATION, member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Simulation (Taylor and Francis) IEEE Computing in Science and Engineering, Wireless Networks (Elsevier), Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation (SCS). He is the head of the Advanced Real-Time Simulation lab, located at Carleton University's Centre for advanced Simulation and Visualization (V-Sim). He helped organizing over 150 conferences including ACM SIGSIM PADS and Winter Simulation Conference (co-sponsored by ACM). He has been the recipient of various awards, including the IBM Eclipse Innovation, SCS Leadership, and various Best Papers. He has been awarded Carleton University's Research Achievement Award (2005, 2014), the SCS Outstanding Professional Award (2011), Carleton University’s Mentorship Award (2013), the SCS Distinguished Professional Award (2013), the SCS Distinguished Service Award (2015), Nepean’s Canada 150th Anniversary Medal (2017), ACM Recognition of Service Award (2018), IEEE Outstanding Engineering Award (Ottawa Section - 2019). He is a Fellow of SCS.