Desirable software features simulation & modeling
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This document discusses desirable features for simulation software. It identifies general capabilities like modeling flexibility, ease of use, and debugging aids as important. Hardware/software considerations and statistical capabilities are also important factors. Good animation, documentation, customer support, and output reports are desirable as well. Flexibility, ease of use, statistical tools, and visualization are key aspects to consider in choosing simulation software.
Desirable software features simulation & modeling
- 1. SIMULATION & MODELING DESIRABLE SOFTWARE FEATURES Shashwat Shriparv dwivedishashwat@gmail.com InfinitySoft
- 2. The important features to consider when selecting simulation software are: General capabilities Hardware and software considerations Animation Statistical features Customer support and documentation Output reports and plots
- 3. General Capabilities The most important feature for a simulation software product to have is modeling flexibility. The following are some specific capabilities that make a simulation software flexible: Ability to define and change attributes for entities and also global variables and to use both in decision logic Ability to use mathematical expressions and mathematical functions Ability to create new modeling construct and to modify existing ones.
- 4. The second most important feature for a simulation product is ease of use. Many contemporary simulation packages have a graphical user interface to facilitate this. The software should have a good debugging aids such as interactive debugger. A powerful debugger allows the user to do things such as:
- 5. Follow a single entity through the model to see if it is processed correctly See the state of the model every time a particular event occurs.(e.g. machine breakdown). Set the value of certain attributes or variables to “force” an entity down a logical path that occurs with small probability.
- 6. Fast model execution speed is important for certain applications . It is desirable to be able to develp user- friendly model “front ends” when the simulation model is to be used by someone other than model developer.
- 7. A feature that is currently of considerable interest is the ability to import data from other applications It is useful for the simulation package to be easily initialized in a nonempty and idle state. Another useful feature is that the state of a simulation can be saved at the end of a run. Finally,cost is usually an important consideration in the purchase of simulation software.
- 8. Hardware and software requirements In selecting simulation software, one must consider what computer platforms the software is available for. In a software package is available for several platforms,then it should be compatible across platforms. The amount of RAM required to run the software should also be considered. One should also consider what operating systems are supported,such as Windows 98,Windows NT and UNIX.
- 9. Animation and Dynamic Graphics The availability of built-in animation is one of the reasons for the increased use of simulation modeling. In an animation, key elements of the system are represented on the screen by icons that dynamically change position, color and shape as the simulation model evolves through time.
- 10. There are two fundamental types of animation: concurrent and post-processed. In concurrent animation the animation is being displayed at the same time that the simulation is running. In post-processed animation state changes in the simulation are saved to a disk file and used to drive the graphics after the simulation is over.
- 11. The simulation software should provide default animation as part of modeling building process. Simulation should be possible to create high- resolution icons and to save them for later reuse. The software should come with a library of standard icons. It should be possible to import CAD drawings and clip art into an animation. It is often desirable to display dynamic graphics and statistics on the screen as the simulation executes.
- 12. Statistical Capabilities If a simulation product does not have good statistical- analysis features, then it is impossible to obtain correct results from a simulation study. The software must have a good random-number generator. Each source of randomness in the system of interest should be represented in the simulation model by a probability distribution. The simulation software should allow the user to specify what performance measures to collect output data on, rather than produce reams of default output data that are of no interest to the user.
- 13. Customer Support and Documentation The simulation software vendor should provide public training on the software on a regular basis, and it should also be possible to have customized training presented at the client side. Good technical support is extremely important for questions on how to use the software and in case a bug in the software is discovered. Good documentation is a crucial requirement for any software product. There should be detailed description of how each modeling construct works. Most simulation products offer a free demo disk and in some cases, a working version of the software can be downloaded from the vendor’s web page
- 14. Output Reports and Graphics Standard reports should be provided for the estimated performance measures. It should also be possible to customize reports, perhaps for management presentations
- 15. The simulation product should provide a variety of graphics. It should be possible to make a histogram for a set of observed data. It is desirable if results for different simulated scenarios can be stored in a database and, if desired ,plotted on a single graph. A correlation plot is a useful way to measure the dependence in the output data produced from one simulation run