SIMULATION CHAMPIONSHIP

1. INTRODUCTION
An office building has five floors (ground plus four). There is only one elevator to service the upward journey in this building the capacity for which is maximum six persons. The office-goers arrive at the ground floor at random times with inter-arrival time distribution of F to use to the elevator. Assume that elevator takes random amount of time to travel to the next floor (because of general process randomness which may include number of people in the elevator, total weight carried by the elevator etc.) and the distribution is G. suppose that for entire population of office-goers using this elevator, 10% are going to the first floor, 17% are going to the second floor, 49% are going to the third floor and the rest are going to fourth floor. Assume that empty elevator takes 0.1K minutes of time to reach from floor K to the ground.

2. PROBLEM STATEMENT
The building administration is considering two options 2.1. 2.1.1.Let the elevator be controlled by the people using the elevator. As and when a person arrives at the ground floor, the person presses thebutton for the elevator. If the elevator is already on the ground floor, the upward journey of the person begins immediately; otherwise the person waits till the elevator arrives on the ground floor. During this waiting time, if another person arrives, the second person doesnt have to wait for long and they both enter the elevator at the same time and press for the floor they wish to go to. 2.1.2. Let the elevator be a controlled by a person (call this person liftman) appointed by the administration. This person is supposed to optimize the operation, by batching people. In this case, the liftman allows a batch of six people to be formed before the elevator moves from the ground floor. So the elevator always carries full capacity. The premise is that

instead of a single person travelling, the elevator can carry six people; there by some energy savings can be realized. More importantly though, this systems to hopes reduce the average waiting time for a given office-goer using the elevator. Simulate the two systems (i.e., sections 2.1.1 and 2.1.2) to estimate the average waiting time for an office-goer using the elevator. Also estimate the average total time spent in the system for the same office-goer (this may include the waiting time and time in the elevator). Estimate the utilization on the elevator. What is your conclusion? Based on the simulation, which system do you recommend? Why?

2.2. This time we are bothered about the downward journey of the office-goers as well. Suppose the height of the building has been raised to 9 floors (including the ground floor). Also, for the entire population of the office-goers, the percentages going to each floor area as follows Floor 1: 6% Floor 2: 12% Floor 3:10% Floor 4: 29% Floor 5: 20% Floor 6: 13% Floor 7: 4% Floor 8: 6% The daily schedule of every office-goer is as follows: 2.2.1. She/he comes to the ground floor and travels to his/her office floor by means of the elevator. 2.2.2. She/he has lunch either in the cafeteria or at an eatery near the office building 2.2.3. She/he returns to the office floor

2.2.4. She/he travels to the ground floor and leaves homes. Assume the cafeteria is located on the first floor and that the elevator(s) are the only mode of transport between the floors. Also assume that 30% of the people working on each floor prefer to eat out, and that a person either eats in the cafeteria every day or eats out every day. At each floor, there are distributions on the lunchtimes (here lunch time does not necessarily mean lunch, although for the sake of reality, your distribution must be peak at usual lunch hours (12pm 2pm). When it is lunchtime, the office-goer will reach the lift on his floor (this is where the waiting time begins). Each person takes twenty minutes to have lunch (excluding waiting time). Also, there is a daily budget (Rs.x, where 1500<x<5000) within which the lift is to be operated. The administration has an option of constructing at most 6 lifts, and can choose to hire or not to hire a liftman for any lift. The daily costs of liftmen and lifts are mentioned below. The administration also has an option of installing a new type of interactive device available in the market at each floor. The device works as follows: Every commuter expresses his desire to use the lift by logging in and making a request. In the request, he has to compulsorily specify his destination floor. This process is assumed to take negligible time.

Assume that the devices consume very less power and run at negligible cost. Also assume all the commuters are honest and behave rationally. Also, they are bound to obey the liftmans instructions. Neglect the one time installation costs of devices, and lifts. Assume that each lift has a capacity of eight persons (inclusive of a liftman, if assigned). Daily cost of a liftman: Rs. 400 Daily cost of a lift: Rs.700 Subject to above restrictions, find a mode of operation for the lifts which will minimize average waiting time for the office-goers. Show the efficiency of your system by comparing its performance with that of another baseline system (the baseline system is a simple and realistic system to solve this problem. This system may not necessarily be very intelligent or efficient). Explain why your system is better.

2.3. After your successful tenure at the previous building, you are asked by the Bank of Trantor to look after the scheduling and planning of the lift systems at their new headquarters to be constructed in town. The building is 20 floors high. Assume that the distribution of people is uniform over the first seven floors, and decreases linearly there forth for each higher floor. In this part, we are only interested in the upward journey of the office-goers i.e., their journey from the ground floor to their office floor when they first arrive at the building. The office-goers arrive at the ground floor at random times with inter-arrival time distribution of F to use to the elevator. Assume that elevator takes random amount of time to travel to the next floor (because of general process randomness which may include number of people in the elevator, total weight carried by the elevator etc.) and the distribution is G. you have the option of installing at most 6 lifts, each of capacity 20(inclusive of the liftman if any). Also you have the option of installing an interactive device similar to part 2.2 on the ground floor. Subject to the following restrictions, formulate a system which will minimize the initial arrival waiting time across all commuters. Assume there are no budget restrictions. Also, the commuters may be asked to get off at certain intermediate floors, from where they have catch another lift to their office floor. Assume that all the office-goers are obedient. In this case as well, compare your solution with another baseline system.

You are free to assume anything that has not been stated over here, as long as you mention it in your design report.

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