Simulation software: AnyLogic

AnyLogic is the only tool that supports all the most common simulation methodologies in place today: System Dynamics, Process-centric (AKA Discrete Event), and Agent Based modeling. The unique flexibility of the modeling language enables the user to capture the complexity and heterogeneity of business, economic and social systems to any desired level of detail. AnyLogic’s graphical interface, tools, and library objects allow you to quickly model diverse areas such as manufacturing and logistics, business processes, human resources, consumer and patient behavior. The object-oriented model design paradigm supported by AnyLogic provides for modular, hierarchical, and incremental construction of large models.

 Agent based

AnyLogic provides a visual language which significantly simplifies development of agent based models:

• UML Statecharts are used to define agent behaviors,
• Action charts are used to define algorithms,
• Environment objects help to describe the agent environment and to collect the statistics,
• Events are used to describe occasional or time-certain occurrences.

These constructions allow you to describe almost all the behavioral aspects of agents and you can always write specific Java code if you would like to model something special or unanticipated. Agent Based models can be seamlessly combined with Discrete-Event and System Dynamics models. The agents themselves may be included inside system dynamics stock & flow diagrams and/or flow charts. In other words, you can combine different simulation methods within one model in any way: hierarchically, series hand-off, parallel, etc.. Read more about multi-paradigm modeling.

System dynamics

AnyLogic completely supports system dynamics stock & flow diagramming in the same way as a traditional system dynamics tool but AnyLogic provides much more functionality:

• In AnyLogic you can develop custom interactive animations in your model which can explain much more to your customers than Stock & Flow diagrams that are only intuitive to developers.
• You can combine your model with others. For example you can model the market in system dynamics while the manufacturing and supply chain use Agent-Based and Discrete-Event methods.
• You can import your SD models from VenSim ®.
• You can send your models as applets to colleagues or clients who can run them in any browser.

Since AnyLogic is based on the Eclipse platform it employs the latest technologies and as a result the AnyLogic Development Environment is modern and easy-to-use when compared with most other simulation modeling tools.

Discrete-event

Discrete-event or process-centric modeling is fully supported by AnyLogic. AnyLogic includes the Enterprise Library which allows you to create any kind of discrete-event model – just drag and drop blocks, connect them, and parameterize. The Enterprise Library has default animations for every block but you can develop your own 2D or 3D animation of any complexity which could animate the process you model and allow you to manage model parameters in run-time.