Introduction to Modeling and Simulation

Abstract

Simulation is a multi-disciplinary approach to solving problems that includes mathematics, engineering, physical science, social science, computing, medical research, business, economics, and so on. Simulation is not new; it dates back to the beginnings of civilization where it was most commonly used in warfare. With the development of computers, simulation moved from role-playing, where people or toy soldiers represented the systems of interest, to computer-based simulation, where software is developed to encode algorithms that represent the systems of interest. Once referred to simply as simulation, the discipline is more often called modeling and simulation (M&S), emphasizing the importance of first modeling the system of interest before developing a computational representation. This chapter provides a brief introduction to M&S, and defines concepts such as model, simulation, and abstraction. It includes a discussion of the relationship between the real world, the model and the simulation, and includes a conceptual definition of simulation from an implementation perspective. The M&S pyramid, which is a construct for describing levels of resolution, will be introduced as well as the term Live Virtual and Constructive simulations, which is a way of describing how humans interact with simulations. Finally a brief primer on how M&S is used in systems engineering will be presented.