PathSim: A Time-Domain System Simulation Framework

Overview

PathSim is a flexible block-based time-domain system simulation framework in Python with automatic differentiation capabilities and an event handling mechanism. It provides a variety of classes that enable modeling and simulating complex interconnected dynamical systems similar to Matlab Simulink but in Python!

Key features of PathSim include:

Hot-swappable blocks and solvers during simulation
Natural handling of algebraic loops
Blocks are inherently MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) capable
Blocks are decentralized and manage their own state, i.e. reading from the scope is just scope.read()
Linear scaling with the number of blocks and connections
Wide range of numerical integrators (implicit, explicit, high order, adaptive)
Modular and hierarchical modeling with (nested) subsystems
Event handling system to detect and resolve discrete events (zero-crossing detection)
Automatic differentiation for fully differentiable system simulations (sensitivity analysis and optimization)
Library of pre-defined blocks (Integrator, Adder, TransferFunction, Scope, etc.)
Extensibility by subclassing the base Block class and implementing just a handful of methods

All features are demonstrated for benchmark problems in the example directory.

Installation

The latest release version of pathsim is available on PyPi and installable via pip:

$ pip install pathsim

Example - Harmonic Oscillator

Here's an example that demonstrates how to create a basic simulation. The main components of the package are:

Simulation: The main class that handles the blocks, connections, and the simulation loop.
Connection: The class that defines the connections between blocks.
Various block classes from the blocks module, such as Integrator, Amplifier, Adder, Scope, etc.

In this example, we create a simulation of the harmonic oscillator (a spring mass damper 2nd order system) initial value problem. The ODE that defines it is give by

$$ \ddot{x} + \frac{c}{m} \dot{x} + \frac{k}{m} x = 0 $$

where $c$ is the damping, $k$ the spring constant and $m$ the mass. And initial conditions $x_0$ and $v_0$ for position and velocity.

The ODE above can be translated to a block diagram using integrators, amplifiers and adders in the following way:

The topology of the block diagram above can be directly defined as blocks and connections in the PathSim framework. First we initialize the blocks needed to represent the dynamical systems with their respective arguments such as initial conditions and gain values, then the blocks are connected using Connection objects, forming two feedback loops. The Simulation instance manages the blocks and connections and advances the system in time with the timestep (dt). The log flag for logging the simulation progress is also set. Finally, we run the simulation for some number of seconds and plot the results using the plot() method of the scope block.

from pathsim import Simulation
from pathsim import Connection
from pathsim.blocks import Integrator, Amplifier, Adder, Scope
from pathsim.solvers import SSPRK22  # 2nd order fixed timestep, this is also the default

#initial position and velocity
x0, v0 = 2, 5

#parameters (mass, damping, spring constant)
m, c, k = 0.8, 0.2, 1.5

# Create blocks 
I1 = Integrator(v0)   # integrator for velocity
I2 = Integrator(x0)   # integrator for position
A1 = Amplifier(-c/m)
A2 = Amplifier(-k/m)
P1 = Adder()
Sc = Scope(labels=["v(t)", "x(t)"])

blocks = [I1, I2, A1, A2, P1, Sc]

# Create connections
connections = [
    Connection(I1, I2, A1, Sc),   # one to many connection
    Connection(I2, A2, Sc[1]),
    Connection(A1, P1),           # default connection to port 0
    Connection(A2, P1[1]),        # specific connection to port 1
    Connection(P1, I1)
    ]

# Create a simulation instance from the blocks and connections
Sim = Simulation(blocks, connections, dt=0.05, log=True, Solver=SSPRK22)

# Run the simulation for 30 seconds
Sim.run(duration=30.0)

# Plot the results directly from the scope
Sc.plot()

# Read the results from the scope for further processing
time, data = Sc.read();

2024-12-12 10:49:20,618 - INFO - LOGGING enabled
2024-12-12 10:49:20,619 - INFO - SOLVER -> SSPRK22, adaptive=False, implicit=False
2024-12-12 10:49:20,619 - INFO - ALGEBRAIC PATH LENGTH 2
2024-12-12 10:49:20,620 - INFO - RESET, time -> 0.0
2024-12-12 10:49:20,620 - INFO - TRANSIENT duration=30.0
2024-12-12 10:49:20,621 - INFO - STARTING progress tracker
2024-12-12 10:49:20,621 - INFO - progress=0%
2024-12-12 10:49:20,625 - INFO - progress=10%
2024-12-12 10:49:20,629 - INFO - progress=20%
2024-12-12 10:49:20,633 - INFO - progress=30%
2024-12-12 10:49:20,637 - INFO - progress=40%
2024-12-12 10:49:20,642 - INFO - progress=50%
2024-12-12 10:49:20,646 - INFO - progress=60%
2024-12-12 10:49:20,650 - INFO - progress=70%
2024-12-12 10:49:20,655 - INFO - progress=80%
2024-12-12 10:49:20,659 - INFO - progress=90%
2024-12-12 10:49:20,663 - INFO - progress=100%
2024-12-12 10:49:20,663 - INFO - FINISHED steps(total)=600(600) runtime=42.46ms

Stiff Systems

PathSim implements a large variety of implicit integrators such as diagonally implicit runge-kutta (DIRK2, ESDIRK43, etc.) and multistep (BDF2, GEAR52A, etc.) methods. This enables the simulation of very stiff systems where the timestep is limited by stability and not accuracy of the method.

A common example for a stiff system is the Van der Pol oscillator where the parameter $\mu$ "controls" the severity of the stiffness. It is defined by the following second order ODE:

$$ \ddot{x} + \mu (1 - x^2) \dot{x} + x = 0 $$

Below, the Van der Pol system is built with two discrete Integrator blocks and a Function block. The parameter is set to $\mu = 1000$ which means severe stiffness.

from pathsim import Simulation, Connection
from pathsim.blocks import Integrator, Scope, Function

#implicit adaptive timestep solver 
from pathsim.solvers import ESDIRK54

#initial conditions
x1, x2 = 2, 0

#van der Pol parameter (1000 is very stiff)
mu = 1000

#blocks that define the system
Sc = Scope(labels=["$x_1(t)$"])
I1 = Integrator(x1)
I2 = Integrator(x2)
Fn = Function(lambda x1, x2: mu*(1 - x1**2)*x2 - x1)

blocks = [I1, I2, Fn, Sc]

#the connections between the blocks
connections = [
    Connection(I2, I1, Fn[1]), 
    Connection(I1, Fn, Sc), 
    Connection(Fn, I2)
    ]

#initialize simulation with the blocks, connections, timestep and logging enabled
Sim = Simulation(
    blocks, 
    connections, 
    dt=0.05, 
    log=True, 
    Solver=ESDIRK54, 
    tolerance_lte_abs=1e-6, 
    tolerance_lte_rel=1e-4
    )

#run simulation for some number of seconds
Sim.run(3*mu)

#plot the results directly (steps highlighted)
Sc.plot(".-");

2024-12-12 10:49:20,743 - INFO - LOGGING enabled
2024-12-12 10:49:20,745 - INFO - SOLVER -> ESDIRK54, adaptive=True, implicit=True
2024-12-12 10:49:20,745 - INFO - ALGEBRAIC PATH LENGTH 1
2024-12-12 10:49:20,745 - INFO - RESET, time -> 0.0
2024-12-12 10:49:20,745 - INFO - TRANSIENT duration=3000
2024-12-12 10:49:20,746 - INFO - STARTING progress tracker
2024-12-12 10:49:20,751 - INFO - progress=0%
2024-12-12 10:49:20,862 - INFO - progress=11%
2024-12-12 10:49:20,904 - INFO - progress=20%
2024-12-12 10:49:21,877 - INFO - progress=33%
2024-12-12 10:49:21,906 - INFO - progress=43%
2024-12-12 10:49:21,982 - INFO - progress=50%
2024-12-12 10:49:22,890 - INFO - progress=62%
2024-12-12 10:49:22,947 - INFO - progress=71%
2024-12-12 10:49:23,221 - INFO - progress=80%
2024-12-12 10:49:23,952 - INFO - progress=93%
2024-12-12 10:49:23,990 - INFO - progress=100%
2024-12-12 10:49:23,991 - INFO - FINISHED steps(total)=292(468) runtime=3243.69ms

Differentiable Simulation

PathSim also includes a fully fledged automatic differentiation framework based on a dual number system with overloaded operators and numpy ufunc integration. This makes the system simulation fully differentiable end-to-end with respect to a predefined set of parameters. Works with all integrators, adaptive, fixed, implicit, explicit.

To demonstrate this lets consider the following linear feedback system and perform a sensitivity analysis on it with respect to some system parameters.

The source term is a scaled unit step function (scaled by $b$). In this example, the parameters for the sensitivity analysis are the feedback term $a$, the initial condition $x_0$ and the amplitude of the source term $b$.

from pathsim import Simulation, Connection
from pathsim.blocks import Source, Integrator, Amplifier, Adder, Scope

#AD module
from pathsim.optim import Value, der

#values for derivative propagation / parameters for sensitivity analysis
a  = Value(-1)
b  = Value(1)
x0 = Value(2)

#simulation timestep
dt = 0.01

#step function
tau = 3
def s(t):
    return b*int(t>tau)

#blocks that define the system
Src = Source(s)
Int = Integrator(x0)
Amp = Amplifier(a)
Add = Adder()
Sco = Scope(labels=["step", "response"])

blocks = [Src, Int, Amp, Add, Sco]

#the connections between the blocks
connections = [
    Connection(Src, Add[0], Sco[0]),
    Connection(Amp, Add[1]),
    Connection(Add, Int),
    Connection(Int, Amp, Sco[1])
    ]

#initialize simulation with the blocks, connections, timestep and logging enabled
Sim = Simulation(blocks, connections, dt=dt, log=True)
    
#run the simulation for some time
Sim.run(4*tau)

Sco.plot()

2024-12-12 10:58:29,279 - INFO - LOGGING enabled
2024-12-12 10:58:29,280 - INFO - SOLVER -> SSPRK22, adaptive=False, implicit=False
2024-12-12 10:58:29,280 - INFO - ALGEBRAIC PATH LENGTH 2
2024-12-12 10:58:29,281 - INFO - RESET, time -> 0.0
2024-12-12 10:58:29,281 - INFO - TRANSIENT duration=12
2024-12-12 10:58:29,282 - INFO - STARTING progress tracker
2024-12-12 10:58:29,282 - INFO - progress=0%
2024-12-12 10:58:29,302 - INFO - progress=10%
2024-12-12 10:58:29,323 - INFO - progress=20%
2024-12-12 10:58:29,342 - INFO - progress=30%
2024-12-12 10:58:29,363 - INFO - progress=40%
2024-12-12 10:58:29,382 - INFO - progress=50%
2024-12-12 10:58:29,401 - INFO - progress=60%
2024-12-12 10:58:29,420 - INFO - progress=70%
2024-12-12 10:58:29,438 - INFO - progress=80%
2024-12-12 10:58:29,457 - INFO - progress=90%
2024-12-12 10:58:29,476 - INFO - progress=100%
2024-12-12 10:58:29,476 - INFO - FINISHED steps(total)=1201(1201) runtime=193.53ms

Now the recorded data is of type Value and we can evaluate the automatically computed partial derivatives at each timestep. For example the response with respect to the linear feedback parameter ($\partial x(t) / \partial a$ <-> der(data, a)).

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

#read data from the scope
time, [step, data] = Sco.read()

fig, ax = plt.subplots(nrows=1, tight_layout=True, figsize=(8, 4), dpi=120)

#evaluate and plot partial derivatives
ax.plot(time, der(data, a), label=r"$\partial x / \partial a$")
ax.plot(time, der(data, x0), label=r"$\partial x / \partial x_0$")
ax.plot(time, der(data, b), label=r"$\partial x / \partial b$")

ax.set_xlabel("time [s]")
ax.grid(True)
ax.legend(fancybox=False);

Event Detection

PathSim has an event handling system that watches states of dynamic blocks or outputs of static blocks and can trigger callbacks or state transformations. This enables the simulation of hybrid continuous time systems with discrete events. Probably the most popular example for this is the bouncing ball where discrete events occur whenever the ball touches the floor. The event in this case is a zero-crossing.

from pathsim import Simulation, Connection
from pathsim.blocks import Integrator, Constant, Scope
from pathsim.solvers import RKBS32

#event library
from pathsim.events import ZeroCrossing

#initial values
x0, v0 = 1, 10

#blocks that define the system
Ix = Integrator(x0)     # v -> x
Iv = Integrator(v0)     # a -> v 
Cn = Constant(-9.81)    # gravitational acceleration
Sc = Scope(labels=["x", "v"])

blocks = [Ix, Iv, Cn, Sc]

#the connections between the blocks
connections = [
    Connection(Cn, Iv),
    Connection(Iv, Ix),
    Connection(Ix, Sc)
    ]

#events (zero-crossings) -> ball makes contact

#event function for zero crossing detection
def func_evt(blocks, t):
    b1, b2 = blocks
    i, o, s = b1() #get block inputs, outputs and states
    return s

#action function for state transformation
def func_act(blocks, t):
    b1, b2 = blocks
    i1, o1, s1 = b1() 
    i2, o2, s2 = b2() 
    b1.engine.set(abs(s1))
    b2.engine.set(-0.9*s2)

#events (zero-crossings) -> ball makes contact
E1 = ZeroCrossing(
    blocks=[Ix, Iv],    # blocks to watch 
    func_evt=func_evt,                 
    func_act=func_act, 
    tolerance=1e-4
    )

events = [E1]

#initialize simulation with the blocks, connections, timestep and logging enabled
Sim = Simulation(
    blocks, 
    connections, 
    events, 
    dt=0.1, 
    log=True, 
    Solver=RKBS32, 
    dt_max=0.1
    )

#run the simulation
Sim.run(20)

#plot the recordings from the scope
Sc.plot();

2024-12-12 10:49:24,502 - INFO - LOGGING enabled
2024-12-12 10:49:24,502 - INFO - SOLVER -> RKBS32, adaptive=True, implicit=False
2024-12-12 10:49:24,502 - INFO - ALGEBRAIC PATH LENGTH 1
2024-12-12 10:49:24,503 - INFO - RESET, time -> 0.0
2024-12-12 10:49:24,503 - INFO - TRANSIENT duration=20
2024-12-12 10:49:24,503 - INFO - STARTING progress tracker
2024-12-12 10:49:24,504 - INFO - progress=0%
2024-12-12 10:49:24,507 - INFO - progress=10%
2024-12-12 10:49:24,511 - INFO - progress=20%
2024-12-12 10:49:24,515 - INFO - progress=30%
2024-12-12 10:49:24,519 - INFO - progress=40%
2024-12-12 10:49:24,523 - INFO - progress=50%
2024-12-12 10:49:24,528 - INFO - progress=60%
2024-12-12 10:49:24,533 - INFO - progress=70%
2024-12-12 10:49:24,540 - INFO - progress=80%
2024-12-12 10:49:24,547 - INFO - progress=90%
2024-12-12 10:49:24,558 - INFO - progress=100%
2024-12-12 10:49:24,559 - INFO - FINISHED steps(total)=395(496) runtime=54.81ms

During the event handling, the simulator approaches the event until the event tolerance is met. You can see this by analyzing the timesteps taken by the adaptive integrator RKBS32.

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8,4), tight_layout=True, dpi=120)

time, _ = Sc.read()

#add detected events
for t in E1: ax.axvline(t, ls="--", c="k")

#plot the timesteps
ax.plot(time[:-1], np.diff(time))

ax.set_yscale("log")
ax.set_ylabel("dt [s]")
ax.set_xlabel("time [s]")
ax.grid(True)

Contributing and Future

There are some things I want to explore with PathSim eventually, and your help is highly appreciated! If you want to contribute, send me a message and we can discuss how!

Some of the possible directions for future features are:

better __repr__ for the blocks maybe in json format OR just add a json method to the blocks and to the connections that builds a netlist representation to save to and load from an interpretable file (compatibility with other system description languages)
explore block level parallelization (fork-join) with Python 3.13 free-threading, batching based on execution cost
linearization of blocks and subsystems with the AD framework, linear surrogate models, system wide linearization
improved / more robust steady state solver and algebraic loop solver
methods for periodic steady state analysis
more extensive testing and validation (as always)

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 163 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
README_files		README_files
examples		examples
pathsim		pathsim
tests		tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE.txt		LICENSE.txt
README.md		README.md
requirements.txt		requirements.txt
setup.py		setup.py

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PathSim: A Time-Domain System Simulation Framework

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Example - Harmonic Oscillator

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Overview

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Example - Harmonic Oscillator

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Event Detection

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