Modeling and Simulation
Framework For
Discrete-event
Simulation-II
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Concepts In Discrete-event Simulation
• This section continues
to expand on the
framework concepts
2
Concepts In Discrete-event Simulation
– Activity: A duration
of time of specified
length (e.g., a service
time or interarrival
time), which is
known when it
begins (although it
may be defined in
terms of a statistical
distribution).
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Concepts In Discrete-event Simulation
– Delay: A duration of
time of unspecified
indefinite length,
which is not known
until it ends (e.g., a
customer's delay in a
last-in-first-out
waiting line which,
when it begins,
depends on future
arrivals).
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Concepts In Discrete-event Simulation
– Clock: A variable
representing simulated
time, called CLOCK in
the examples to follow
5
Different Simulation, Packages Use Different Terminology
• Different simulation,
packages use different
terminology for the
same or similar
concepts-for example,
lists are sometimes
called sets, queues, or
chains. Sets or lists are
used to hold both
entities and event
notices
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The Entities On A List Are Always Ordered By Some Rule
– The entities on a list
are always ordered
by some rule, such as
first-in-first-out or
last-in-first-out, or
are ranked by some
entity attribute, such
as priority or due
date. The future
event list is always
ranked by the event
time recorded in the
event notice
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An Activity Typically Represents A Service Time
• An activity typically
represents a service
time, an interarrival
time, or any other
processing time
whose duration has
been characterized
and defined by the
modeler. An activity's
duration may be
specified in a number
of ways:
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Activity's Duration
– 1. Deterministic:
For example,
always exactly 5
minutes;
– 2. Statistical: For
example, as a
random draw from
among 2, 5, 7 with
equal probabilities;
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Activity's Duration
– 3. A function
depending on
system variables
and/or entity
attributes-for
example, loading
time for an iron ore
ship as a function of
the ship's allowed
cargo weight and
the loading rate in
tons per hour.
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Duration Of An Activity is Computable
• However it is
characterized, the
duration of an activity
is computable from its
specification at the
instant it begins. Its
duration is not affected
by the occurrence of
other events (unless,
as is allowed by some
simulation packages,
the model contains
logic to cancel an
event)
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Summary
• Here we have given
some additional
concepts related to
DES
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