(A. Ceselli)

Schedule for the A.A. 2025/2026

The classes will be given by physical meetings (see easystaff for details). Perspective students are kindly suggested to setup MS Teams, which is available for many platforms, before the starting of the lectures, and join the following group: join the team Simulation 2025-26 . You can also refer to the official myariel website .

Topic: Simulation Class
Time: Monday 13:30 - 15:30, Wednesday 10:30 - 11:30, Friday 14:30 - 16:30
Room: Monday: Aula Lab. Magistrale 5th floor, Wednesday and Friday: Aula Lab. Magistrale 3rd floor (Dept. of Computer Science).

Lecture topics and slides

• Lecture 1. Introduction. Slides , and data of the customers exercise .
• Part 1. Modeling with Random Variables. Slides , and a discrete random variables cheatsheet (by L. Diedolo).
• Part 2. Generating Random Numbers. Slides , code of random generators (part 1) .
• Part 3. Generating Random Variables. Slides .
• Part 4. Statistical Analysis of Simulation Results. Slides .
• Part 5. Data Generation.

Tutorial topics and code

• Tutorial 1. Diffusion of Technologies: example of solution model .
• Tutorial 2. Supply Chain. Data for Retailers , example of solution model and the partial model developed during the first lecture (2021) .
• Tutorial 3. Discrete events simulation: the pharmacist exercise .
• Tutorial 4. Job Shop ( background image ).
• Tutorial 5. System Dynamics Simulation. Diffusion of flu example.
• Work in progress: Job Shop 2019

Software

• Anylogic Personal Learning Edition.
• R project open source distribution , and the R studio IDE

References

• S. Ross Simulation. 5th edition (2014).
• D. Malchiodi Simulation book (2017).
• Y. Grigoryev AnyLogic in Three Days: a Quick Course in Simulation Modeling (2014).

Exam

The exam consists of (a) the development of a practical project and (b) an oral discussion about the theoretical part. In the practical project, each student is required to choose an application, develop a simulation model for it, run experiments and collect results in a written report. The format of the report is free, but as a suggestion the student can fill the following template in libreoffice format or template in word format . Any application can be suitable, but a list of possible topics is also available. Please, contact me before starting the project development.

As a further guideline, please consider that in order to be a valid simulation project, the following minimum requirements must be met:

1. it cannot be an adaptation of an existing example (e.g. anylogic ones);
2. you must model a system whose complexity justifies a simulation approach (e.g. a production line with a few blocks in cascade it is not);
3. the complexity of the system must require some components and/or connections to the outer world to be approximated by random variables;
4. Key System Parameters and Key Performance Indicators must be very clear: understanding their link is one of the main targets of the project;
5. as a consequence of (2), the complexity of such a link must justify a simulation approach (e.g. if the link can be modeled as a closed form function, or be represented with a single random variable from the literature, its complexity does not justify a simulation approach);
6. I expect a pertinent simulation approach also in the experiments (e.g. a screenshot of a single run of the model does not provide a pertinent experimental approach);
7. a clear final report is part of the project. I also expect proper writing, formatting and editing.