General Principles

of Discrete Event
Simulation
Chapter 3

Terminologies
System
Model
System State
Entity
Attributes
List
Event

Event Notice
Event List
Activity
Delay
Clock

What is Discrete Event Simulation?

DES

is used for systems where the

state of a system changes in discrete
points in time.
A system can change in only
countable number of points in time.
Makes use of a Time-Advance
Algorithm.

Time-Advance Algorithm (Event Scheduling)

This

method requires an event list.

The Simulation Clock Time will
progress only up to the time when the
event is expected to occur.

Time-Advance Algorithm (Event Scheduling)

Entity (Customer) i

Arrival
Event

Delay

Service
Begins

Activity

Departure
Event

Customer Behavior inside

Single-Server Queue

Time Line

World Views
It

is the orientation or perspective that

the modeler will adapt when modeling.
Event Scheduling
Process-Interaction
Activity Scanning

Event Scheduling
An

analyst concentrates on events and

their effect on system state.

Process-Interaction

The analyst thinks in terms of the processes.

The analyst defines the model in terms of entities or objects
and their life cycle as they flow through the system.
The process is the life cycle of the entity inside the system.
The life cycle consist of various events and activities. These
processes will force the entity to interact (such as queue and
wait)
Follows the intuitive approach and most popular.
Allows for a high level description of the process flow.
A process is a time-sequence list of events, activities, and
delays that define the cycle of one entity as it moves through
the system.

Activity Scanning
A

modeler concentrates on the

activities of a model and those
conditions, simple or complex, that
allow an activity to begin.
Can lead to slow run times due to
repeated scanning of the activity list
and check whether an activity can
begin.