Lecture 4

General Principles - Revived

Dr. Sanja Lazarova-Molnar

 Purpose
• Develop a common framework for the modeling of complex
systems.
• Cover the basic blocks for all discrete-event simulation models.
• Introduce and explain the fundamental concepts and
methodologies underlying all discrete-event simulation
packages.
– These concepts and methodologies are not tied to any particular
simulation package.

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 Outline
• Deals exclusively with dynamic, stochastic systems.
• Discrete-event models are appropriate for those systems for
which changes in system state occur only at discrete points in
time.
– Covers general principles and concepts:
• Event scheduling/time advance algorithm.
• The three prevalent world views.
– Introduces some of the notions of list processing.

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 Concepts in Discrete-Event Simulation
Activity vs. Delay

• An activity typically represents a service time, an interarrival time, or

any processing time whose duration has been characterized/defined
by the modeler.
– An activity’s duration may be specified:
• Deterministic
• Statistical
• A function depending on system variables and/or entity attributes.
– Duration is not affected by the occurrence of other events, hence,
activity is also called an unconditional wait.
– Completion of an activity is an event, often called a primary event.
– For example
• If the current simulated time is CLOCK = 100 minutes, and an inspection
time of exactly 5 minutes is just beginning, then an event notice is created
that specified the type of event and the event time (100+5 = 105 min).

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 Concepts in Discrete-Event Simulation
Activity vs. Delay

• A delay’s duration is determined by system conditions (not specified

by the modeler ahead of time.)
– Also called a conditional wait.
– For example, a customer’s delay in a waiting line may be dependent on
the number and duration of service of other customers ahead in line
and, whether a server has a failure during the delay.
• Dynamic: Function of time and constantly changing over time.
– System state, entity attributes, the number of active entities, the
contents of sets, and the activities and delays currently in progress are
all function of time.

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 Concepts in Discrete-Event Simulation
by Example

• Example: Able-Baker Call Center System. A discrete-event model has the

following components:
– System state:
• The number of callers waiting to be served at time t
• Indicator that Able is idle or busy at time t
• Indicator that Baker is idle or busy at time t
– Entities: neither the caller nor the servers need to be explicitly represented,
except in terms of the state variables, unless certain caller averages are desired.
– Events:
• Arrival
• Service completion by Able
• Service completion by Baker
– Activities:
• Interarrival time.
• Service time by Able
• Service time by Baker
– Delay: a caller’s wait in queue until Able or Baker becomes free.

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Concepts in Discrete-Event Simulation
• The definition of the model components provides a static
description of the model.
• A description of the dynamic relationships and interactions
between the components is also needed.
– e.g., how does each event affect system state? What events mark the
beginning or end of each activity? What is the system state at time 0?
• A discrete-event simulation is:
– The modeling over time of a system all of whose state changes occur at
discrete points in time.
– Proceeds by producing a sequence of system snapshots.

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Event Scheduling/Time Advance Algorithm
• The mechanism for advancing simulation time and guaranteeing that
all events occur in correct chronological order.
• At any given time t, the future event list (FEL) contains all previously
scheduled future events and their associated event times (t1,t2, …)
– FEL is ordered by event time, and the event time satisfy:
t £ t1 £ t2 £ t3 £ … £ tn where t is the value of CLOCK

Update Remove event from

system Advance FEL and execute
clock to ti+1
snapshot ti event, i = i +1

Repeat

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Event Scheduling/Time Advance Algorithm

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 List Processing [Event Scheduling]

• The management of a list.

– The major list processing operations performed on a FEL are:
• Removal of the imminent event
• Addition of a new event to the list
• Occasionally removal of some event (cancellation of an event).
– Efficiency of search within the list depends on the logical organization
of the list and how the search is conducted.
• When an event with event time t* is generated, its correct
position on the FEL can be found via:
– A top-down search, or
– A bottom-up search.

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 Future Events [Event Scheduling]

• An exogenous event is a happening “outside the system” that

impinges on the system, e.g., arrival and service completion in
a queueing system.
• Arrival event:
– An exogenous event is a happening “outside the system” that impinges
on the system.
– For example, an arrival to a queueing system, at time 0, the 2nd arrival
event is generated and is schedule on the FEL. When the clock
eventually is advanced to the time of this first arrival, a second arrival
event is generated.
– The end of an interarrival interval is an example of a primary event
(primary event is managed by placing an event notice on the FEL.)

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 Future Events [Event Scheduling]

• Service completion event:

– Conditional event
– Triggered only on the condition that a customer is present and a server
is free.
– A service time is an example of an activity.
• Alternate generation of runtimes and downtimes for a machine
subject to breakdowns.
• Stopping event, E:
– At time 0, schedule a stop simulation event at a specified future time
TE.
– Run length TE is determined by the simulation itself. Generally, TE is the
time of occurrence of some specified event E.

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Manual Simulation Using Event Scheduling
• Grocery Store Example: Single-channel queue. Reconsider the single
checkout counter problem.
– The system consists of those customers waiting plus the one (if any) checking
out.
– For this example, a stopping time of 60 minutes is set.
– Model components:
• System state: LQ(t) – # of customers in line at time t, LS(t) - # being served at time t.
• Entities: the server and customers are not explicitly modeled, except in terms of the
state variables.
• Events: arrival (A), departure (D), stopping event (E).
• Event notices (event type, event time):
– (A, t), representing an arrival event to occur at future time t;
– (D, t), representing a customer departure at future time t;
– (E, 60), representing the simulation stop event at future time 60.
• Activities: interarrival time and service time.
• Delay: customer time spent in waiting line.

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Grocery Store Example [Manual Simulation]

– FEL will always contain two or three event notices.

– Event logic – execution of arrival event.

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Grocery Store Example [Manual Simulation]

– Event logic – execution of departure event.

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 Grocery Store Example [Manual Simulation]

• Initial conditions are the 1st customer arrives at time 0 and begin service.
• Only two statistics: server utilization (B) & maximum queue lengths (MQ).
• Simulation table:
Arrival at time 8

Departure at time 4
Terminating event
at time 60
System State Cumulative Statistics
Clock LQ(t) LS(t) Future Event List Comment B MQ
First A occurs: (a* = 8),
0 0 1 (D, 4), (A, 8), (E, 60) schedule next A; (s*=4) 0 0
Schedule first D
4 0 0 (A, 8), (E, 60) First D occurs: (D, 4) 4 0

Second A occurs: (A, 8);

8 0 1 (D, 9), (A, 14), (E, 60) (a* = 6) Schedule next A; 4 0
(s* = 1) Schedule next D

9 0 0 (A, 14) (E, 60) Second D occurs: (D, 9) 5 0

Third A occurs: (A, 14);
14 0 1 (A, 15) (D, 18) (E, 60) 5 0
(s* = 4) Schdeule next D
Fourth A occurs: (A, 15)
15 1 1 (D, 18), (A, 23), (E, 60) 6 1
(Customer delayed)
Third D occurs: (D, 18);
18 0 1 (D, 21) (A, 23) (E, 60) 9 1
(s* = 3) schedule next D 16
 Manual Simulation
• When an event-scheduling algorithm is computerized, only one
snapshot (the current one or partially updated one) is kept in
computer memory.
– A new snapshot can be derived only from the previous snapshot, newly
generated random variables, and the event logic.
– The current snapshot must contain all information necessary to continue
the simulation.

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Grocery Store Example [Manual Simulation]

• Suppose the simulation analyst desires to estimate mean response

time and mean proportion of customers who spend 5 or more
minutes in the system.
– It is necessary to expand the previous model to represent the individual
customers explicitly.
• Customer entity with arrival time as an attribute will be added to the list of
model components,
• Customer entities will be stored in a list to be called “CHECKOUTLINE” as: C1,
C2, C3, …,
– Three new cumulative statistics will be collected.
• S, the sum of customer response times for all customers who have departed
by the current time.
• F, the total number of customers who spend 5 of more minutes at the
checkout counter.
• ND the total number of departures up to the current simulation time.
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Grocery Store Example [Manual Simulation]

(D, t, Ci) –the departure of

Simulation Table: customer Ci at future time t

(Ci, t) –customer Ci (A, t, Ci) –the arrival of

who arrived at time t customer Ci at future time t
System State Cumulative Statistics
Clock LQ(t) LS(t) List "CHECKOUT LINE" Future Event List S ND F
0 0 1 (C1, 0) (D, 4, C1), (A, 8, C2), (E, 60) 0 0 0
4 0 0 (A, 8, C2), (E, 60) 4 1 1
8 0 1 (C2, 8) (D, 9, C2), (A, 14, C3), (E, 60) 4 1 1
9 0 0 (A, 14, C3) (E, 60) 5 2 1
14 0 1 (C3, 14) (A, 15, C4) (D, 18, C3) (E, 60) 5 2 1
15 1 1 (C3, 14) (C4, 15) (D, 18, C3), (A, 23, C5), (E, 60) 5 2 1
18 0 1 (C4, 15) (D, 21, C4) (A, 23, C5) (E, 60) 9 3 2

At time 16, when the departure event (D, 18, C3) is being executed, the response
time for customer C3 is computed by:

Response time = CLOCK TIME – attribute “time of arrival”

= 18 – 14
= 4 minutes
The S is incremented by 4 minutes, and F and ND by one customer.
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Dump-Truck Example [Manual Simulation]

• Six dump trucks are used to haul coal from the entrance of a small
mine to the railroad.
– Each truck is loaded by one of two loaders.
– After loading, the truck immediately moves to the scale to be weighed.
– The loaders and the scale have a FCFS waiting line (or queue) for trucks.
– After being weighed, a truck begins a travel time (during which the truck
unloads) and returns to the loader queue.

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Dump-Truck Example [Manual Simulation]

• The distributions of loading time, weighing time and travel time are:
Cumulative Random Digit
Loading Time Probability Probability Assignment
5 0.3 0.3 1-3
10 0.5 0.8 4-8
15 0.2 1 9-0

Weighing Cumulative Random Digit

Time Probability Probability Assignment
12 0.7 0.7 1-7
16 0.3 1 8-0

Cumulative Random Digit

Travel Time Probability Probability Assignment
40 0.4 0.4 1-4
60 0.3 0.7 5-7
80 0.2 0.9 8-9
100 0.1 1 0
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Dump-Truck Example [Manual Simulation]

• Purpose: to estimate the loader and scale utilizations (% of time busy.)

• The model has the following components:
– System State [ LQ(t), L(t), WQ(t), Q(t)], where
• LQ(t) = number of trucks in loader queue
• L(t) = number of trucks (0, 1, or 2) being loaded
• WQ(t) = number of trucks in weigh queue
• W(t) = number of trucks (0 or 1) being weighed
– Event notices:
• (ALQ, t, DTi), dump truck i arrives at loader queue (ALQ) at time t
• (EL, t, DTi), dump truck i ends loading (EL) at time t
• (EW, t, DTi), dump truck i ends weighing (EQ) at time t
– Entities: The six dump trucks (DT1, …, DT6)
– Lists:
• Loader queue, all trucks waiting to begin loading, ordered in FCFS basis.
• Weigh queue, all trucks waiting to be weighed, ordered on a FCFS basis.
– Activities:Loading time, weighing time, and travel time.
– Delay: Delay at loader queue, and delay at scale

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Dump-Truck Example [Manual Simulation]

• When an end-loading (EL) event occurs, say for truck j at time t,

other events are triggered:
– If the scale is idle [W(t) = 0], truck j begins weighing and an end-weighing
event (EW) is scheduled on the FEL. Otherwise, truck j joins the weigh
queue.
– If there is another truck waiting for a loader, it will be removed from the
loader queue and begin loading by the scheduling of an end-loading
event (EL) on the FEL.
– Both this logic for the occurrence of the end-loading event and the
appropriate logic for the other two events should be incorporated into
an event diagram.

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 Dump-Truck Example [Manual Simulation]
Truck 3 joins the weigh Truck 4 begins to load,
queue (because the scale is schedule an EL event for
• Simulation Table: occupied.) future time 10

System State Loader Weigh Cumulative Statistics

At time 0, Clock t Future Event List BL BS
LQ(t) L(t) WQ(t) W(t) Queue Queue
5 trucks at 0 3 2 0 1 DT4 (EL, 5, DT3) 0 0
the DT5 (EL, 10, DT2)
loaders DT6 (EW, 12, DT1)
5 2 2 1 1 DT5 DT3 (EL, 10, DT2) 10 5
and 1 is at
DT6 (EL, 5+5, DT4)
the scale (EW, 12, DT1)
10 1 2 2 1 DT6 DT3 (EL, 10, DT4) 20 10
DT2 (EW, 12, DT1)
The (EL, 10+10, DT5)
imminent 10 0 2 3 1 DT3 (EW, 12, DT1) 20 10
event is an DT2 (EL, 20, DT5)
DT4 (EL, 10+15, DT6)
EL event with
12 0 2 2 1 DT2 (EL, 20, DT5) 24 12
time 5, hence DT4 (EW, 12+12, DT3)
clock is (EL, 25, DT6)
advanced to (ALQ, 12+60, DT1)
time t=5 20 0 1 3 1 DT2 (EW, 24, DT5) 40 20
DT4 (EL, 25, DT6)
DT5 (ALQ, 72, DT1)
24 0 1 2 1 DT4 (EL, 25, DT6) 44 24
DT5 (EW, 24+12, DT2)
(ALQ, 72, DT1)
(ALQ, 24+100, DT3)
25 0 0 3 1 DT4 (EW, 36, DT2) 45 25
DT5 (ALQ, 72, DT1)
DT6 (ALQ, 124, DT3)
36 0 0 2 1 DT5 (EW, 36+16, DT4) 45 36
DT6 (ALQ, 72, DT1)
(ALQ, 36+40, DT2) 24
(ALQ, 124, DT3)
Dump-Truck Example [Manual Simulation]

• Two cumulative statistics are maintained:

– BL = total busy time of both loaders from time 0 to time t
– BS = total busy time of the scale from time 0 to time t
– From the simulation table, we know that:
• Both loaders are busy from time 0 to time 20, so BL = 40 at time = 20.
• From time 20 to time 24, only one loader is busy, thus BL increases by only 4
minutes over the time interval [20, 24].
• From time 25 to time 36, both loaders are idle (L(25) = 0), so BL does not
change.

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Dump-Truck Example [Manual Simulation]

• Under the activity-scanning approach, the conditions for

beginning each activity are:
Activity Condition
Load time Truck is at front of loader queue, and at
least one loader is idle.
Weighing time Truck is at front of weigh queue, and weigh scale
is idle.
Travel time Truck has just completed a weighing.

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Dump-Truck Example [Manual Simulation]

• Using process-interaction approach, we view the model from

the viewpoint of one dumper truck and its “life cycle.”
– Considering a life cycle as beginning at the loader queue, we can picture
a dump-truck process as:

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Lists: Basic Properties and Operations
• Lists are a set of ordered or ranked records.
– In simulation, each record represents one entity or one event notice.
– They have top or head (1st item) and bottom or tail.
– Ways to traverse the list (to find the 2nd, 3rd, etc. items on the list) are
necessary.
• An entity identifier and its attributes are fields in the entity record.
• Each record on a list has a field that holds a “next pointer” that points
to the next record on the list.

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Lists: Basic Properties and Operations
• The main operations on a list are:
– Removing a record from the top of the list
– Removing a record from any location on the list
– Adding an entity record to the top or bottom of the list
– Adding a record at an arbitrary position in the list, specified by the ranking rule.
• In the event-scheduling approach, when time is advanced and the
imminent event is due to be executed:
– First, the removal operation takes place.
– If an arbitrary event is being canceled, or an entity is removed from a list based
on some of its attributes to being an activity, then the second removal operation
is performed
– If a queue has the ranking rule earliest due date first, then, upon arrival at the
queue, an entity must be added to the list determined by the due-date ranking
rule.

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Lists: Basic Properties and Operations
• For simulation on a computer:
– All records are stored in arrays: arrays hold successive records in contiguous
locations in computer memory, referenced by array index.
– All entities and event notices are represented by structure (as in C) or classes (as
in Java) allocated from RAM memory as needed, and tracked by pointers to a
record or structure.

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 Using Arrays [List Processing]

• The array method of list storage is typical of FORTRAN.

• Most modern simulation packages do not use arrays for list storage,
but rather use dynamically allocated records.
• Advantages of arrays:
– Any specified record (say the ith record) can be retrieved quickly without
searching, merely by referencing R(i)
• Disadvantages of arrays:
– The list is rearranged when items are added to the middle of a list.
– Have a fixed size which is determined at compile time.

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 Using Arrays [List Processing]

• Two basic methods for keeping track of record ranking in a list:

– Method 1: Store the 1st record in R(1), 2nd in R(2), …, and list in R(tailptr).
• Extremely inefficient.
• For example, adding a record in position 41 in a list of 100 items, it requires
that the last 60 records be physically moved down one array position to
make space for the new record.
– Method 2: Use head pointer.
• A variable that points to the record at the top of the list, denoted as headptr.
• For example, if the record in position R(1) were the record at the top of the
list, then headptr would have the value 11.

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Dump-Truck Example [List Processing]

• Recall the dump-truck problem: At clock time 10, there is waiting line of 3
dump trucks occurred at the weigh queue, specifically, DT3, DT2 and DT4 (in
this order.)
• Suppose the model is tracking one attribute of each dump truck: its arrival
time at the weigh queue, updated each time it arrives.
• Suppose that the entities are stored in records in an array dimensioned from
1 to 6, one record for each dump truck.
– Each entity is represented by a record with 3 fields:
• The first is an entity identifier,
• The second is the arrival time at the weigh queue,
• The last is pointer field to “point to” the next record.
[ DTi, arrival time at weigh queue, next index]

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Dump-Truck Example [List Processing]

• At time 0, the records would be initialized as follows:

R(1) = [DT1, 0.0, 0], R(2) = [DT2, 0.0, 0], R(3) = [DT3, 0.0, 0]
R(4) = [DT4, 0.0, 0], R(5) = [DT5, 0.0, 0], R(6) = [DT6, 0.0, 0]

• At clock time 10, the list of entities in the weigh queue would be defined by:
headptr = 3
R(1) = [DT1, 0.0, 0], R(2) = [DT2, 10.0, 4], R(3) = [DT3, 5.0, 2]
R(4) = [DT4, 10.0, 0], R(5) = [DT5, 0.0, 0], R(6) = [DT6, 0.0, 0]

• To traverse the list, start with the head pointer, go to that record, retrieve that
record’s next point, and proceed. To create the list in its logical order, for example:
headptr = 3,
R(3) = [DT3, 5.0, 2], R(2) = [DT2, 10.0, 4], R(4) = [DT4, 10.0, 0]
– The zero entry for next point in R(4), as well as tailptr = 4, indicates that DT4 is at the end of
the list.

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Dump-Truck Example [List Processing]

• At clock time 12, dump truck DT3 begins weighing and thus leaves the weigh
queue.
– To remove the DT3 entity record form the top of the list, update the head pointer
by setting it equal to the next pointer value of the record at the top of the list:
headptr = R(headptr, next)

– In this example, we get: headptr = R(3, next) = 2. Hence, dump truck DT2 in R(2)
is now at the top of the list.

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 Using Dynamic Allocation and Linked Lists [List
Processing]

• Used in procedural languages, such as C++ and Java, and in most

simulation languages.
• Entity records are dynamically created when an entity is created.
• Event notice records are dynamically created whenever an event is
scheduled on the future event list.
• Basic mechanics:
– The languages maintain a linked list of free chunks of computer memory
and allocate a chunk of desired size upon request to running programs.
– When an entity exits from the simulated system, and also after an event
occurs and the event notice is no longer needed, the corresponding
records are free.

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 Using Dynamic Allocation and
Linked Lists [List Processing]
• A record is referenced by a pointer instead of by an array index.
– A pointer to a record can be thought of as the physical or logical address
in computer memory of the record.
– If the 3rd item on the list is needed, we need to traverse the list, counting
items until we reach the record.
• Notation for records:
– Entities: [ID, attributes, next pointer]
– Event notices: [event type, event time, other data, next pointer]
• List types:
– Singly-linked lists: one-way linkage from the head of the list to its tail.
– Doubly-linked lists: records have two pointer fields, one for the next
record and one for the previous record.

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Dump-Truck Example [List Processing]

• Event notices in the dump truck problem are expanded to include a pointer
to the next event notice on the future event list, and can be represented by:
[event type, event time, DTi, nextptr]
– Keep in mind that the records may be stored anywhere in computer memory.

• For example, [EL,10, DT3, nextptr]

– At future event list at clock time 10, the future event list as a linked list:

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 Summary
• Introduced the major concepts and building blocks in simulation:
– Entities and attributes.
– Events and activities.
• Three major world views:
– Event-scheduling.
– Process interaction.
– Activity scanning.
• Basic notions of list processing are introduced to gain understanding
of this important underlying methodologies.

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