SYSTEMS, MODELS &

SIMULATIONS
IT207 - Modelling & Simulation
Lecture 1

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INTUITIVE DEFINITIONS

SIMULATION: Using computers to imitate or simulate

the operation of some real-world process.

SYSTEM: The real-world process being imitated.

MODEL: Set of assumptions (mathematical or logical

relationships) made to conduct a scientific study to
understand how a given system will behave.
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• If a given model is simple enough, we can use
mathematical methods (algebra, calculus, probability
etc) to obtain answers to interesting questions about any
system. This method is called an analytical solution.

• However, most real-world problems are complex and

cannot be solved using analytical method.

• To solve such real-world problems, we use simulation

that evaluates a model numerically (because computers
are fast with numbers) to estimate characteristics of a
given system. 3
 An Example of Simulation
• A shoe manufacturing company wants to know if building a new
extension to its factory will help in increasing profits.

• It is not clear whether the construction cost of the new extension is

justified or maybe there will be no significant improvement in profits.

• Simulating this scenario in a computer can help to understand how

the profit of the company will be affected with the proposed
extension to its factory

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 Application Areas of Simulation
• Designing and analyzing manufacturing systems (previous example)
• Evaluating military weapons systems or their logistics requirements (how fast
can a missile be launched from remote headquarters)
• Determining hardware requirements or protocols for communications
networks
• Designing and operating transportation systems such as airports, freeways,
ports, and subways
• Evaluating designs for service organizations such as call centers, fast-food
restaurants, hospitals, and post offices
• Reengineering of business processes
• Analyzing supply chains
• Determining ordering policies for an inventory system
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 Challenges in Simulation
• Building simulation of complex processes requires writing complex
computer programs.

• Writing complicated computer programs increases the computational

complexity leading to increased execution time.

• Often times, simulation models are not run enough. A single

execution of a simulation model gives no guarantee to the
characteristics of system behaviour being studied.

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SYSTEM: Collection of entities (peoples or machines) that interact together
towards some target or goal.

For example:
Objective: Study a bank to find out how many employees are needed to
attend customers who to want to cash a cheque or make a deposit.

Entities: Employees helping customers to cash cheque or make deposit,

customers standing in line or being processed.

System: Collection of employees and customers mentioned as entity above.

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SYSTEM STATE: Collection of variables that can be used to describe a
system at a particular time.

For example,
In previous example, the following variables can describe the system:
1. Number of bank employees busy attending customers
2. Number of customers in waiting line
3. Arrival time of each customer

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Types of Systems

• DISCRETE SYSTEMS – systems whose state variables change

instantaneously at separate points of time. (the previous bank
example is a discrete system since its variables such as number of
employees or customers are discrete values)

• CONTINOUS SYSTESM – systems whose state variables change

continuously with time. (Let the system be an airplane flying and
variables be its position and velocity. Both position and velocity are
continuous values)

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Ways to Study a System

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 Ways to Study a System
• Experimenting with actual system is not always feasible or possible as it
may be too costly or disruptive in the real world. Hence, a model (a
representation) of a system is used to experiment as it does not affect
the real world outcome.

• Physical (iconic) models are real-world models used for simulation. For
example, cockpits are disconnected from airplanes which will be used to
train new pilots. It is not always feasible/possible to have physical
models to simulate a given system.

• Most models are mathematical, representing a system in terms of

logical and quantitative relations.
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 Ways to Study a System
• Mathematical models can be solved using Analytical method or
Simulation

• Analytical models can solve simple systems using mathematical tools.

(an example of analytical method, distance = speed * time . Using this
relation, we can find speed for a given distance and time using, speed =
distance/time)

• Most systems in real life are too complex to be solved by analytical

method. However, if it is feasible, then it is preferred over simulation

• When the system under study is too complex, we use simulation to

study it 12
 Types of Simulation Models

• STATIC SIMULATION MODELS

A Static model is a representations of a system at a particular time. It
presents a system where time plays no role.

• DYNAMIC SIMULATION MODELS

Dynamic models represent how a system behave over time.

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 Types of Simulation Models
• DETERMINISTIC SIMULATION MODELS
Deterministic simulation models have no probabilistic or random component.
The output is “determined” once all the inputs and mathematical
relationships are defined, even if calculating the output takes time.

• STOCHASTIC SIMULATION MODELS

Stochastic simulation models have a random component. Since real-life
systems are often governed by randomness, most models are designed to be
stochastic.

Since stochastic models have random components, their output is also

random and hence they are considered an estimate of the real-world system.
This is one of the major challenges of simulation.
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 Types of Simulation Models
• DISCRETE SIMULATION MODELS
Same as discussed previously

• CONTINOUS SIMULATION MODELS

Same as discussed previously

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Common Mistakes in conducting a
Simulation Study
• Failure to have a well-defi ned set of objectives at the beginning of
the simulation study
• Inappropriate level of model detail
• Failure to have people with a knowledge of simulation methodology
and statistics on the modeling team
• Failure to collect good system data
• Inappropriate simulation software
• Failure to account correctly for sources of randomness in the actual
system

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Common Mistakes in conducting a
Simulation Study
• Making a single replication of a particular system design and treating
the output statistics as the “true answers”
• Comparing alternative system designs on the basis of one replication
for each design
• Using the wrong performance measures

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THANK YOU!!

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