David H. Withers

Hierarchical modeling for discrete event simulation (panel)

This panel session is to discuss the issues and current research in hierarchical modeling for discrete event simulation. Three academic researchers are to briefly describe their research in hierarchical modeling and the issues and one industrial practitioner will present the issues from a users perspective.

Software engineering best practices applied to the modeling process

We present a mapping of best practices from the field of software engineering to the practice of discrete event simulation model construction. There are obvious parallels between the two activities. We therefore hypothesize there should be opportunities to improve the model construction process by taking advantage of these parallels. This research extends the prior work (Withers, 1993) that provided a structured definition of the modeling process.

A structured definition of the modeling process

This research uses the IDEFO methodology to develop a structured functional model of the modeling process. It ties together multiple views of this process from current literature and field experience from successful modeling projects. The motivation for this project is to describe the process for discrete event simulation models, but the process can be used for other modeling techniques. The basis for this work was a panel discussion at the 1991 Winter Simulation Conference. (Pritsker, 91). This formal representation of the modeling process offers opportunities for further research to refine the art of problem resolution using models.

Teaching simulation: a panel discussion

This panel looks at the issue of teaching simulation. It brings together three individuals with a wide diversity of academic and industrial experience to discuss the key issues that should be taught in a simulation course. Questions discussed include: Should a simulation language or general modeling concepts be taught in a simulation course? Should there be a difference between simulation courses taught to engineering and business school students? What simulation tools and skills should be taught to satisfy the needs of industry who hire engineering and business school graduates? These and other issues will be discussed.

Single-replication simulation

The problem of analyzing simulations in a single replication is considered. This type of analysis would facilitate efficient examination of a number of simulated process control strategies over a short horizon. For such problems, a detailed simulation study would not be feasible, and ideally a single simulation replication per alternative would be desired. The ultimate goal is to establish a methodology for single-replication simulation using control or alteration of the underlying stochastic processes. The proposed methodologies consist of two approaches for altering the simulation model while adequately modeling the likely behavior of the real system. The first approach eliminates certain sources of variation; for instance, events of low probability that have substantial effect on the system output are ignored. The second approach simply alters other sources of variation of some probability distributions.<<ETX>>

Fortieth anniversary special panel: Landmark papers

To celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the Winter Simulation Conference, we have selected ten landmark papers from the four decades of the conference. In this article, we review these landmark papers and discuss their impact on the theory, education, and practice of simulation.

Software/modelware application requirements (panel)

This session is intended to provide a forum for software/modelware users to express new requirements for future softsvare and modelware products. ‘The panelists are all experienced application developers representing industry, academic, and military users. All exhibitors are invited to attend this session. 1 OVERVIEW The paper is organized as follows: The guidelines, for requirements are defined followed by an introduction of the panelists’ backgrounds. The backgrounds are provided to aid the reader in understanding the panelist’s perspective. The requirements are then defined and are grouped into several broad categories. A key phrase defining each requirement is in boldface. The paper concludes with a short summa~. Laura Giussani