Design the Component

There are a number of things to consider when designing a new simulation component. The two main aspects are

1. What are the interfaces to other components
2. What functionality will it have internally

Component Interfaces

An interface will comprise one or more ports and define how a component connects to and interacts with other components.

So it is first essential to define the types of interfaces a component will have and how many of each there will be. Then, the required ports can be created.

A port has a flow of data. The general naming convention is:

• Where data flows in to a component it is a receive port (rx).
• Where data flows out of a component it is a transmit port (tx).

Component Functionality

Some components are simply collections of other components plugged together. In most cases, however, it will be necessary to define custom functionality for the port. This includes how the ports handle data they send/receive as well as general activity that can be spawned in the run() function.