Reusability and composability analysis for an agent-based hierarchical modelling and simulation framework
Authored by Feng Zhu, Yiping Yao, Jin Li, Wenjie Tang
Date Published: 2019
DOI: 10.1016/j.simpat.2018.10.009
Sponsors:
Chinese National Natural Science Foundation
Platforms:
GraphSim
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
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Mathematical description
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
Agent-based modeling and simulation has been proved useful in a variety
of different complex adaptive systems comprised of autonomous,
interacting components. To resolve the shortcoming of current
agent-based modeling frameworks with respect to decomposition and
modularity, this paper presents a formal hierarchical modeling and
simulation framework with three-level architecture to reduce ambiguity
as well as improve clarity in the model definition. The bottom level is
Component Model (CM), which implements some domain-specific support
functionality, such as curve motion in the physical domain, intelligent
decision-making in the cognitive domain, etc. The middle level is Agent
Model (AM), which describes an agent which can react to the current
situation by executing a sequence of CMs. The top level is System Model
(SM), which defines that a CAS model consists of several AMs and also
the interactions between these AMs. In the hierarchical architecture,
one SM can be built up from lower-level models, which were linked in a
loosely coupled fashion via an event-driven interface. We then analyze
the reusability and composability of lower-level models of this
hierarchical framework in a formalized way. To demonstrate the
effectiveness of the proposed solution, we develop a graphical composite
modelling tool named GraphSim, and the case study concerning two social
dynamics system scenarios is also presented.
Tags
Agent-based modeling
Complex adaptive systems
Dynamics
networks
Specification
Formal composite
framework
Social dynamics simulation
Web services
Reuse