Multi-level agent-based modeling - A literature survey

During last decade, multi-level agent-based modeling has received significant and dramatically increasing interest. In this article we present a comprehensive and structured review of literature on the subject. We present the main theoretical contributions and application domains of this concept, with an emphasis on social, flow, biological and biomedical models.Comment: v2. Ref 102 added. v3-4 Many refs and text added v5-6 bibliographic statistics updated. v7 Change of the name of the paper to reflect what it became, many refs and text added, bibliographic statistics update

Foundations of Multi-Paradigm Modelling for Cyber-Physical Systems

This open access book coherently gathers well-founded information on the fundamentals of and formalisms for modelling cyber-physical systems (CPS). Highlighting the cross-disciplinary nature of CPS modelling, it also serves as a bridge for anyone entering CPS from related areas of computer science or engineering. Truly complex, engineered systems—known as cyber-physical systems—that integrate physical, software, and network aspects are now on the rise. However, there is no unifying theory nor systematic design methods, techniques or tools for these systems. Individual (mechanical, electrical, network or software) engineering disciplines only offer partial solutions. A technique known as Multi-Paradigm Modelling has recently emerged suggesting to model every part and aspect of a system explicitly, at the most appropriate level(s) of abstraction, using the most appropriate modelling formalism(s), and then weaving the results together to form a representation of the system. If properly applied, it enables, among other global aspects, performance analysis, exhaustive simulation, and verification. This book is the first systematic attempt to bring together these formalisms for anyone starting in the field of CPS who seeks solid modelling foundations and a comprehensive introduction to the distinct existing techniques that are multi-paradigmatic. Though chiefly intended for master and post-graduate level students in computer science and engineering, it can also be used as a reference text for practitioners

Computer automated multi-paradigm modelling for analysis and design of traffic networks

Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. H. Vangheluwe, and J. de Lara, "Computer automated multi-paradigm modelling for analysis and design of traffic networks", Proceedings of the 2004 Winter Simulation Conference, 2004, Volumen 1, Heidelberg, Germany, 2004Computer automated multiparadigm modelling (CAMPaM) is an enabler for domain-specific analysis and design. Traffic, a new untimed visual formalism for vehicle traffic networks, is introduced. The syntax of traffic models is meta-modelled in the entity-relationship diagrams formalism. From this, augmented with concrete syntax information, a visual modelling environment is synthesized using our CAMPaM tool AToM3, a tool for multiformalism and meta-modelling. The semantics of the traffic formalism is subsequently modelled by mapping traffic models onto Petri net models. As models' abstract syntax is graph-like, graph rewriting can be used to transform models. The advantages of a domain-specific formalism such as traffic as opposed to a generic formalism such as Petri nets are presented. We demonstrate how mapping onto Petri nets allows one to employ the vast array of Petri net analysis techniques. A coverability graph is generated and conservation analysis is automated by transforming this graph into an integer linear programming specificationJuan de Lara’s work has been partially sponsored by the Spanish Interdepartmental Commission of Science and Technology (CICYT), project number TIC2002-01948. Hans Vangheluwe gratefully acknowledges partial support for this work by a National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Individual Research Grant. The authors wish to thank Ms. Sokhom Pheng for her work on the Petri Net conservation analysis during her “Modelling and Simulation Based Design” project at McGill Universit

Integrating BDI agents with Agent-based simulation platforms

Agent-Based Models (ABMs) is increasingly being used for exploring and supporting decision making about social science scenarios involving modelling of human agents. However existing agent-based simulation platforms (e.g., SWARM, Repast) provide limited support for the simulation of more complex cognitive agents required by such scenarios. We present a framework that allows Belief-Desire Intention (BDI) cognitive agents to be embedded in an ABM system. Architecturally, this means that the "brains" of an agent can be modelled in the BDI system in the usual way, while the "body" exists in the ABM system. The architecture is exible in that the ABM can still have non-BDI agents in the simulation, and the BDI-side can have agents that do not have a physical counterpart (such as an organisation). The framework addresses a key integration challenge of coupling event-based BDI systems, with time-stepped ABM systems. Our framework is modular and supports integration off-the-shelf BDI systems with off-the-shelf ABM systems. The framework is Open Source, and all integrations and applications are available for use by the modelling community

Teaching co-simulation basics through practice

International audienceCyber-physical system representation is one of the current challenges in Modeling and Simulation. In fact, multi-domain modeling requires new approaches to rigorously deal with it. Co-simulation, one of the approaches, lets modelers use several M&S tools in collaboration. The challenge is to find a way to enable co-simulation use for non-IT experts while being aware of assumptions and limitations involved. This paper deals with co-simulation basic principles teaching through practice. we propose an iterative and modular co-simulation process supported by a DSL-based environment for the MECSYCO co-simulation platform. Through a thermal use case, we are able to introduce co-simulation in a 4 hours tutorial destined to our students. Efficient energy management is one of this century challenges. The current trend to deal with it is to build cyber-physical system (CPS) [Kleissl and Agarwal, 2010]. CPS are physical systems monitored and supervised by one or several computers through a communication networks [Ra-jkumar et al., 2010]. Smart-grids are examples of CPS where the energy network is coupled with a communication network to enable remote monitoring and control. The Modeling and Simulation (M&S) of such systems is one of the current challenges in M&S due to the inter-disciplinary issues they raise. It requests the development of new methods which deal with multi-domain by integrating each expert point of view in the same rigorous and efficient M&S activity. Co-simulation [Gomes et al., 2018] is a way to achieve it

Multidomain Simulation Model for Analysis of Geometric Variation and Productivity in Multi-Stage Assembly Systems

Nowadays, the new era of industry 4.0 is forcing manufacturers to develop models and methods for managing the geometric variation of a final product in complex manufacturing environments, such as multistage manufacturing systems. The stream of variation model has been successfully applied to manage product geometric variation in these systems, but there is a lack of research studying its application together with the material and order flow in the system. In this work, which is focused on the production quality paradigm in a model-based system engineering context, a digital prototype is proposed to integrate productivity and part quality based on the stream of variation analysis in multistage assembly systems. The prototype was modelled and simulated with OpenModelica tool exploiting the Modelica language capabilities for multidomain simulations and its synergy with SysML. A case study is presented to validate the potential applicability of the approach. The proposed model and the results show a promising potential for future developments aligned with the production quality paradigm