Page 35 - DCAP601_SIMULATION_AND_MODELING

Unit 1: Introduction to System Simulation

Simulation involves Notes

Inventory System

1. Discrete

2. Stochastic
Pure Pursuit

1. Continuous
2. Deterministic
Still, few things are general for all types of simulation:
1. We initiate with a mathematical model of the system under study
2. Some initial conditions (i.e., at t=0) are presumed

3. State change appears in agreement with some equations (rules or laws)
4. At the end, desired information concerning the system (i.e., problem solution) is composed
5. These rules can be coded in a computer program. Alteration in program variables mimics
the state transform.
6. Hence, through simulation, we managed to get around the requirement of acquiring the
analytic solution

1.7 When to Simulate

Simulation is a decision examination and support tool. Simulation software permits you to
assess, compare and optimize alternative designs, plans and policies. As such, it offers a tool for
explaining and protecting decisions to a variety of stakeholders.
Simulation should be used when the penalties of a proposed action, plan or design cannot be
directly and right away observed (i.e., the consequences are postponed in time and/or dispersed
in space) and/or it is just impractical or prohibitively luxurious to test the alternatives
straightforwardly. For instance, when implementing a strategic plan for a company, the impacts
are probable to take months (or years) to happen.
Simulation is mainly valuable when there is important uncertainty concerning the outcome or
consequences of a particular substitute under consideration. Probabilistic simulation permits
you deal with this vagueness in a quantifiable manner.

Perhaps most significantly, simulation should be used when the system under concern has
complex interactions and necessitates the input from multiple disciplines. In this case, it is hard
for any one person to easily recognize the system. A simulation model can perform as the
framework to integrate the various components so as to better understand their communications.
As such, it becomes a management tool that keeps you focused on the “big picture” without
getting lost in insignificant details.

Task What do you think the best time for simulation to be valuable?

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