ABSTRACT
This chapter presents basic concepts of discrete-event dynamic systems, introduce and classify different techniques for modeling such systems, and shows how a simulation study is carried out. Computer simulation enabled scientists and engineers to experiment easily with “virtual” environments, elevating the analysis of natural and artificial applications to a new level of detail unknown in earlier stages of scientific development and providing great help in the design and analysis of complex applications. In the 1960s, techniques for discrete-event simulation became very popular. The language expressions are interpreted as a labeled transition system, and bisimulation can be used to prove equivalence of models. Discrete event systems specification theory provides a rigorous methodology for representing models, and it presents an abstract way of thinking about the world independently of the simulation mechanisms. The simulation experimental frame contains information about the experimental conditions, parameter values, and behavior generation mechanisms.
