Introduction

Simulation technology is commonly used to study physical systems or imagined systems. A complex system can be modeled as a simulation program, which simulates the system’s behavior on computers. The simulations can be used to perform what-if analysis on the simulated system, to predict the different results of varying key parameters/estimates, or to examine a series of solutions prior to making the final implementation decision. Simulation technology is safer, more feasible and flexible, and possibly much less costly in practice. Simulation can overcome the inconvenience incurred by the span in time and geographic distribution. Simulation can help companies facilitate the design, evaluation, and optimization of their daily operations. The simulation of a complex system can be divided into smaller components to form a parallel simulation. Distributed simulation is an important technology that enables a simulation program to be executed on a distributed computer system. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.