CS5233 Simulation and Modelling Techniques

(2008/2009 Semester 1)

Time and venue: thursdays (6.30 to 8.30pm), COM1 206

Assignment 3 (deadline: 15th April 2009)

Instructor

Gary Tan,
School of Computing
National University of Singapore
Office: COM1, #03-27
Phone: 6516-6276
Email: gtan@comp.nus.edu.sg

Objectives and content of the course

This course aims to provide students with a working knowledge of applying simulation techniques to model, simulate and study complex systems. It covers techniques in simulation model design, model execution and model analysis. Students will have hands-on experience using a simulation package.
The course will also introduce concepts of parallel and distributed simulation, and high level architecture.

Topics include:

Introduction to Simulation
Concepts in Discrete-event simulation (DES)
Components of DES
Random Number Generation
Input Data Modelling
Verification and Validation
Output Analysis
Model Design
Parallel and Distributed Simulation
Distributed Virtual Environments
High Level Architecture

Prerequisites

Pass a first course in probability and statistics. Programming languages needed: C, C++ or Java. Knowledge of basic simulation will be most helpful.

Course material

Main textbooks:

Discrete-Event System Simulation, by J. Banks, J. Carson, B. Nelson, D.Nicol, 4th edition, Prentice Hall, 2005. (http://www.bcnn.net)
Parallel and Distributed Simulation Systems, by R.M. Fujimoto, John Wiley, 2000.

other textbooks:

Simulation Modeling & Analysis, by A. Law and D. Kelton, McGraw Hill Publishing Co., 3rd Edition, 2000.
Creating Computer Simulation Systems: An Introduction to the High Level Architecture, Kuhl, Weatherly and Dahmann, Prentice Hall, 2000.
Simulation with Arena, 4th Edition, Kelton, Sadowski, Sturrock, McGraw Hill, 2007.

A number of articles, and pointers to web-pages
Lecture notes. Most of the lecture notes and slides will be put on the web

Assignments

The course will include three assignments. More information will be provided later.

Active participation

Students are expected to participate actively in the course by asking questions at the lectures (Marks will be accorded for active participation). The aim is to get you to think critically during the lectures and promote healthy discussion. You are not expected to give correct and complete answers to the questions during the discussions.

Final Examination

The final exam (30th April 2009) will focus on the understanding and application of the basic material covered in the course.

Grading

Active participation: 5%

Assignment 1: 10%

Assignment 2: 25%

Assignment 3: 10%

Written Exam: 50%

Course schedule (tentative)

No.	Date	Topic	Banks	Fujimoto	slides	Research Papers/Other notes
Lecture 1	15th January	Course Information and Introduction to Modelling and Simulation	Chaps 1, 2	-	CI Intro	-
Lecture 2	22nd January	Introduction to Discrete-Event Simulation	Chaps 2, 3	-	DES	M/M/1 in C: mm1.c random.c rand.h to run, type: gcc -lm mm1.c random.c
Lecture 3	29th January	Test and Generation of Random Numbers	7, 8	-	RNG	Stats (ch 5 of banks)
Lecture 4	5th February	Input Data Analysis	9, 10	-	IDA	-
Lecture 5	12th February	Verification and Validation Overview of Simulation Language - SIMSCRIPT II.5	Simscript II.5 manuals: intro.pdf simscriptsimplified.pdf user man (simuser.pdf) simref.pdf graphics (graphics.pdf)	-	VV Simscript	Simscript programs: mm1queue.sim queue_event.sim barber.sim interval.sim reset.sim multiple.sim
Lecture 6	19th February	Output Analysis	11	-	OA	-
Semester break	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lecture 7	5th March	Parallel and Distributed Simulation I	-	1, 2	PADSI	wintersim99.pdf
Lecture 8	12th March	Parallel and Distributed Simulation II	-	3,4	PADSII	parallelsim.pdf optimistic.pdf
Lecture 9	19th March	Distributed Virtual Environments	-	-	DVE	link to HLA files hla.pdf rules.pdf if.pdf omt.pdf
Lecture 10	26th March	DDM	-	7,8	DDM	ddm.pdf anss00.pdf dsrt00.pdf pads02.pdf tomacs.pdf dsrt03.pdf dsrt06.pdf
Lecture 11	2nd April	Presentation	-	-	schedule	-
Lecture 12	9th April	Time Management	-	11	TM	-
Lecture 13	16th April	-	-	-	-	-
-	Reading Week (revision week)	-	-	-	-	-

Sources of References

Journals:

Simulation: Transactions of the Society for Modelling and Simulation International
ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation

Conference Proceedings:

Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Simulation
Winter Simulation Conference