Methods, system and computer program products are disclosed for providing a graphical modeling environment in which a graphical model is generated and executed. In the graphical modeling environment, elements are provided to define or describe signals associated with resources that are coupled to the graphical modeling environment. The high-level signal definition or description elements define or describe the signals associated with the resources regardless of the hardware of the resources. With the use of high-level signal definition or description elements, the users have the capability to deal with the signals transmitted to/from the resources without the specific knowledge of the hardware of the resources.