Agent Based Simulation A Report on: Modeling Multiagent Systems as Self-Organized Critical Systems

Simulation can be defined as, " an imitation or representation, as of potential situation or in experimental testing. " It can also be defined as, " representation of the operation or features of one process or system through the use of another " [8]. Today, simulation is used for purposes ranging from work flow representation to military procedures. The question remains then-what techniques are best suited for varying simulation purposes? While object-oriented techniques are used for many types of simulation, also being explored is the use of agents in simulation. Specifically when simulating natural phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanoes, agent based simulation has proved to be successful. Traditional models have not been able to grasp the small physical processes that occur in nature which result in " catastrophes " such as volcano eruptions.