SIMENV: A dynamic simulation environment for heterogeneous agents

We introduce a generic simulation framework suitable for agent-based simulations featuring the support of heterogeneous agents, hierarchical scheduling, and flexible specification of design parameters. One key aspect of this framework is the design specification: we use a format based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML) that is simple-structured yet still enables the design of flexible models, with the possibility of varying both agent population and parameterization. Further, the tool allows the defi- nition of communication channels to single or groups of agents, and handles the information exchange. Also, both (groups of) agents and communications channels can be added and removed at runtime by the agents, thus allowing dynamic settings with the agent population and/or communication structures varying during the simulation time. A second issue in agent-based simulations, especially when readymade components are used, is the heterogeneity arising from both the agents' implementations and the underlying platforms: for this, we introduce a wrapper technique for mapping the functionality of agents living in an interpreter-based environment to a standardized JAVA interface, thus facilitating the task for any control mechanism (like a simulation manager). Again, this mapping is made by an XML-based definition format. (author's abstract)