A Comparison of the Accuracy of Discrete Event and Discrete Time

Abstract

Many combat and agent-based models use time-step as their simulation time advance mechanism. Since time discretization is known to affect the results when numerically solving differential equations, it stands to reason that it might likewise affect the results of such simulations. This paper demonstrates that is indeed the case. Using simple queueing models, we demonstrate that the size of the time step can have a substantial impact on estimated measures of performance. While large time steps can execute faster than a corresponding discrete event model, there can be substantial errors in the estimates. Conversely, with small time steps the results match both the discrete event measures as well as the analytic values, but can take substantially longer to execute.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2010
Accession Number
ADA554313

Entities

People

  • Ahmed Al Rowaei
  • Arnold Buss

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Accuracy
  • Agent-Based Simulations
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Computational Science
  • Difference Equations
  • Differential Equations
  • Electronic Mail
  • Engineering
  • Equations
  • Mathematical Analysis
  • Mathematics
  • New Jersey
  • Probability
  • Random Variables
  • Simulations
  • Steady State

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  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Mathematical Modeling and Probability Theory.
  • Systems Analysis and Design