Simulation and Modelling: Chapter Five

Simulation and Modelling
Chapter Five
Simulation Landuages
By: Hayelom M. (PhD Candidate at UESTC)

Introduction
• A computer simulation language describes the
operation of a simulation on a computer.
• There are two major types of simulation:
– Continuous and
– discrete
• Most languages also have a graphical interface and at
least simple statistical gathering capability for the
analysis of the results.
• An important part of discrete event languages is the
ability to generate pseudo-random numbers and
variates from different
probability distributions.
Discrete System Simulation
• A common exercise in learning how to build discrete-event
simulations is to model a queue, such as customers arriving at
a bank to be served by a teller.
• In this example, the system entities are CUSTOMER-
QUEUE and TELLERS.
• The system events are CUSTOMER-ARRIVAL and
CUSTOMER-DEPARTURE. (The event of TELLER-
BEGINS-SERVICE can be part of the logic of the arrival and
departure events.)
• The system states, which are changed by these events, are
NUMBER-OF-CUSTOMERS-IN-THE-QUEUE (an integer
from 0 to n) and TELLER-STATUS (busy or idle).
• The random variables that need to be characterized to model
this system stochastically are CUSTOMER-
INTERARRIVAL-TIME and TELLER-SERVICE-TIME.
Components of a Discrete-event Simulation
• Clock: The simulation must keep track of the current simulation
time, in whatever measurement units are suitable for the system
being modelled.
• Events List: The simulation maintains at least one list of simulation
events. An event is described by the time at which it occurs and a
type, indicating the code that will be used to simulate that event.
• The simulation needs to generate random variables of various kinds,
depending on the system model.
• Statistics: The simulation typically keeps track of the system’s
statistics, which quantify the aspects of
interest. In the bank example, it is of interest to track the mean
service times.
• Ending Condition: the simulation designer must decide when the
simulation will end. Typical choices are at time ‘t’ or “after
processing n number of events” or, more generally, “when statistical
measure X reaches the value x”.
Simulation Engine Logic
• The main loop of a discrete-event simulation is something
like this:
• Start
– Initialize Ending Condition to FALSE.
– Initialize system state variables.
– Initialize Clock (usually starts at simulation time zero).
– Schedule an initial event (i.e., put some initial event into the Events
List).
• “Do loop” or “While loop”
While (Ending Condition is FALSE) then do the following:
– Set clock to next event time.
– Do next event and remove from the Events List.
– Update statistics.
– End
– Generate statistical report.
Stages used in Discrete Event Simulation
Object Oriented Simulation
• The main difference between traditional program

development and Object Oriented techniques is the
way in which the data and the program code are stored
and manipulated.
• In traditional software, the data and the program code
are intermingled throughout the program, making data
security and integrity difficult to achieve.
• However, in Object Oriented simulation
software all data and procedures relating to a single
entity (object) are encapsulated within an
object, with the object controlling its own interaction
and data integrity permissions with other objects.
Continuous Simulation Languages
• Continuous system simulation languages are
very high level programming languages which
assist modelling and simulation of systems
characterized by ordinary and partial
differential equations.
• Continuous Simulation refers to a computer
model of a physical system that incessantly
tracks system response over time according to
a set of above specified equations
Block-structured Continuous Simulation Languages
• Block oriented simulation languages are based on
the method of analogue computers.
• The system must be expressed as a block diagram
that defines the interconnection of functional units
and their quantitative parameters.
• “Programming” means entering the interconnection
of the blocks and their description.
• Then the user adds statements and/or directives that
control the simulation.
• If the system is described as a set of equations, they
must be converted to a block diagram.
Example: GPSS
Simulation Languages
• General purpose languages
Eg. C++, C, FORTRAN, Java etc…
• Special purpose languages
Eg. SIMSCRIPT, GPSS, COMNET, OPNET,
SimPack, etc.
Q&A
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Simulation and Modelling

By: Hayelom M. (PhD Candidate at UESTC)

• The main difference between traditional program

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