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Event-Driven Multi-agent Simulation

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Multi-Agent-Based Simulation XV (MABS 2014)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 9002))

Abstract

Most agent-based models today apply a time-driven approach, i.e. simulation time is advanced in equidistant steps. This time advance method is considerably easier to implement than the more flexible and efficient event-driven approach.

Applying the event-driven approach requires that (a) the durations for agent and environment actions are determined before they terminate, (b) each agent is able to instantly react to changes in its environment, and (c) the update of the state of the environment can be kept efficient despite updating agents asynchronously.

The simulation toolkit famos fulfils these requirements, extending an existing discrete-event simulator. The toolkit also supports a flexible representation of space and the movement of agents in that space. These are areas where existing toolkits for agent-based modelling show shortcomings, despite the fact that a majority of multi-agent models explicitly model space and allow for mobile agents.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Available at http://famos.sourceforge.net.

  2. 2.

    Available at http://desmoj.sourceforge.net.

  3. 3.

    Another example is David O’Sullivan’s combination of graphs with irregular cellular automata to model spatial processes in cities [30].

  4. 4.

    http://www.jessrules.com/jess.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Policy Modelling, Manchester Metropolitan University, Oxford Road, Manchester, M15 6BH, UK

    Ruth Meyer

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  1. Ruth Meyer
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Correspondence to Ruth Meyer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universitat de València, Burjassot-València, Spain

    Francisco Grimaldo

  2. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Emma Norling

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Meyer, R. (2015). Event-Driven Multi-agent Simulation. In: Grimaldo, F., Norling, E. (eds) Multi-Agent-Based Simulation XV. MABS 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9002. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14627-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14627-0_1

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