Anastasia Anagnostou

Distributed hybrid agent-based discrete event emergency medical services simulation

This paper presents the development of a distributed hybrid agent-based (ABS) discrete event simulation (DES) model within the context of emergency medical services (EMS). The existing simulation models of EMS either are considered as a single model or several standalone models that represent different system elements in isolation. The aim of this research is to demonstrate the feasibility of using distributed simulation technology to implement hybrid EMS simulation. This would provide opportunities to study holistically integrated improvement scenarios for emergency medical services and crisis management systems. The case study is based on the London EMS and consists of an ambulance service ABS model and several accident and emergency departments DES models. Both the ABS and the DES models were developed in Repast Simphony toolkit using poRTIco RTI software to achieve communication between them. The results prove that we can use distributed simulation to successfully represent the real system.

A tutorial on cloud computing for agent-based modeling & simulation with repast

Cloud computing facilitates access to elastic high performance computing without the associated high cost. Agent-based Modeling & Simulation (ABMS) is being used across many scientific disciplines to study complex adaptive systems. Repast Simphony (Recursive Porous Agent Simulation Toolkit) is a widely used ABMS system. Cloud computing can speed-up significantly ABMS to facilitate more accurate and faster results, timely experimentation, and optimization. However, the many different Clouds, Cloud middleware and Service approaches make the development of Cloud-based ABMS highly complex. This tutorial introduces the CloudSME Simulation Platform (CSSP) that enables simulation software to be deployed as service (SaaS) supported by a cloud platform (PaaS). It shows how Repast can be deployed as a cloud computing service as part of a workflow of tasks. A case study demonstrates how the CSSP can easily run agent-based simulations written in Repast on multiple Clouds.

A hybrid agent-based and discrete event simulation approach for sustainable strategic planning and simulation analytics

Modern healthcare reforms are required to be financially, environmentally and socially sustainable in order to address the additional constraints of financial resources shrinkage, pressure to reduce the environmental impacts and demand for improving the quality of healthcare services. Decision makers face the challenge of balancing all three aspects when planning. However, implementing such an approach, particularly in healthcare, is not a trivial task. Modeling & simulation is a valuable tool for studying complex systems. This paper investigates the application of a hybrid approach that combines Agent-based Modeling & Simulation (ABMS) and Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) for analyzing sustainable planning strategies for Emergency Medical Services. The paper presents a case study that shows how combined ABMS and DES models can support strategic planning and simulation analytics, respectively. The generated data from the ABMS is fed to the DES model in order to analyze the different strategies and the preliminary results are promising.

Developing a Distributed Agent-Based and DES Simulation Using poRTIco and Repast

Simulation modeling is a significant tool for systems analysis that is being used in industry and services for several years. As the world becomes more connected, organizations complexity increases and traditional simulation techniques often are inadequate to represent modern problems. Moreover, simulation building requires high-skilled modelers and experimentation with large-scale simulations is highly computation intensive exercise. Distributed simulation, by enabling experimentation across multiple processors over a network or the cloud, has the potential to provide solution for the required computation capacity. Additionally, reusability of models is supported by enabling individual models to interoperate. In this paper we demonstrate the development of a distributed hybrid agent-based and discrete event simulation using high level architecture (HLA) technology. We implemented our project in open source software which has the advantage of cost-free access and source code accessibility. Using emergency medical services as exemplar case study, we developed an agent-based model of an ambulance service and several discrete event simulations of accident and emergency departments using Repast toolkit. The interface runtime infrastructure was developed in portico software. We tested the performance of the 1.3 and the Evolved version of the IEEE 1516 HLA standard. The yielded results show that the overall performance of both HLA versions is satisfying. However, interestingly, HLA 1.3 performs better on a single processor while HLA Evolved demonstrates better performance when executing in a network.

Simulation Exploration Experience: A Distributed Hybrid Simulation of a Lunar Mining Operation

Distributed simulation involves many complex techniques and technologies. There are very few educational resources to support the study of distributed simulation. The Simulation Exploration Experience (SEE) (exploresimulation.com) is a partnership of government, industry, academia and professional associations that is attempting to support distributed simulation education in an exciting and challenging way. This annual programme of activities brings together teams of undergraduate and postgraduate students from across the world to build collaboratively a distributed simulation of a lunar expedition. This paper describes SEE and its lunar environment and discusses the experiences of Brunel Universitys 2014 student team who developed a hybrid distributed simulation of a lunar mining operation involving an agent-based simulation of a mine, a real-time simulation of an astronaut and a discrete-event simulation of a factory in SIMUL8.

A Prototype HLA Development Kit: Results from the 2015 Simulation Exploration Experience

The IEEE 1516-2010 High Level Architecture for distributed simulation is used to facilitate the development of large-scale simulations. However, there is a steep learning curve. The annual Simulation Exploration Experience (SEE) presents the opportunity for multiple international student-led teams to gain experience in developing distributed simulations in an interesting lunar-based scenario. To support the student learning process, a prototype HLA Development Kit has been created that has the goal of reducing the complexity of distributed simulation design and implementation. A student-led team used the Kit to create a lunar excavator federate using agent-based simulation implemented in REPAST. The excavator federate successfully interoperated with the University of Liverpool UAV during SEE 2015. This paper presents a short overview of the Kit and experiences in developing the lunar excavator federate.

Easing the development of HLA Federates: the HLA Development Kit and its exploitation in the SEE Project

The Modeling & Simulation (M&S) of modern cyber-physical systems is presenting new challenges. New M&S techniques, methods and tools are emerging that take advantage of distributed simulation environments. One of the most mature and popular standard for distributed simulation is the IEEE 1516-2010 - High Level Architecture (HLA) that, although originally developed for military applications, is increasingly exploited in a great variety of application domains due to its capabilities to enable the interoperability and reusability of distributed simulation components. However, the development of fully fledged simulation models, based on the IEEE 1516-2010 standard, is still a challenging task and requires considerable development effort that often results not only in an increase in development time but also in low reliability. In this context, the paper presents a general-purpose, domain-independent framework that aims to ease the development of HLA-based simulations. Its effectiveness is exemplified in the context of the Simulation Exploration Experience (SEE) project lead by NASA and which involves several U.S. And European Institutions.

Validating Scanned Foot Images and Designing Customized Insoles on the Cloud

People with foot problems need special healthcare: foot care. Customized insoles can provide this care. They are inserts that are placed in the shoes. They correct biomechanical and postural inaccuracies in foot. Insole production contains four phases: foot image scanning, image validation, insole design and insole manufacturing. Currently, image scanning and validation is separated in location and time, i.e. podiatrists take images and insole designers validate them at different location and at different time. A cloud-based solution, the CloudSME one-stop shop simulation platform, enables remote access to image validation and insole design service deployed and running on the Cloud. The remote access allows podiatrists validating scanned image while the patient is in their offices. The simulation platform also supports remote design of customized insoles.

Investigating a Science Gateway for an Agent-Based Simulation Application Using REPAST

The benefits of using e-Infrastructure environments, such as cloud, grid, and high performance computing, for performing scientific experiments could be quite significant. In particular, modeling and simulation, which can serve as a key decision making and system analysis tool, could benefit immensely from such environments ranging from issues of how a community of practice could access a simulation to how it could be run quickly. However, the access and use of these e-Infrastructure environments may present a completely different set of challenges, most especially for non Information and Communications Technology (ICT) users. Science Gateways (SG), which are digital interfaces to advanced technologies, can be used to overcome the challenges of running many simulations on e-Infrastructures in a reasonable amount of time. In this work, we developed a SG, based on the Liferay portal framework and the Catania grid and cloud engine. We show how an Agent-Based infection simulation, which has been implemented using the Recursive Porous Agent Simulation Toolkit (REPAST) Simphony, can be ported to a Science Gateway and deployed on distributed computing infrastructures. This demonstration illustrates how this technology can be used easily to allow multiple users across the world to access a simulation and to execute their applications in an e-Infrastructures environment.

Business models for cloud computing: experiences from developing modeling & simulation as a service applications in industry

The potential of cloud computing is gaining significant interest in Modeling & Simulation (M&S). The underlying concept of using computing power as a utility is very attractive to users that can access state-of- the-art hardware and software without capital investment. Moreover, the cloud computing characteristics of rapid elasticity and the ability to scale up or down according to workload make it very attractive to numerous applications including M&S. Research and development work typically focuses on the implementation of cloud-based systems supporting M&S as a Service (MSaaS). Such systems are typically composed of a supply chain of technology services. How is the payment collected from the enduser and distributed to the stakeholders in the supply chain? We discuss the business aspects of developing a cloud platform for various M&S applications. Business models from the perspectives of the stakeholders involved in providing and using MSaaS and cloud computing are investigated and presented.