Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
In order to provide a conceptual framework that is general enough
for a wide range of applications, a reasonable abstraction level has
to be chosen. The guiding principle which is followed throughout the
reference model is to avoid prescriptive requirements as far as possible
and make these only when necessary. A central design principle is
abstraction of specific agent architectures (i. e., of specific internal
structures and behavior modeling of agents) as well as abstraction
from specific simulation engines.
The target audience of this reference model are model developers
and scientist in the area of agent-based modeling and simulation.
The reference model can help and guide model developers in creating
and documenting agent-based models in a well-defined way, thereby
providing a common language and understanding. Application de-
velopers may build upon this reference model to create simulation
engines which adhere to common specifications and allow execution
of agent-based models on various simulation engines. The scientific
community may use the reference model to develop and describe
concepts and algorithms on a higher level, thereby gaining advantage
of more general results which are applicable in a wider range than
before.
6.2 Basic idea of the GRAMS reference model
Figure 6.1 illustrates the basic idea of the GRAMS reference model.
Firstly, the GRAMS reference model defines basic building blocks
of agent-based models in a domain-independent way and serves as a
template for problem-specific instantiations, defining generic compon-
ents, their interrelations as well as their semantics. Therefore, each
simulation model representing some system under investigation needs
to be instantiated as a problem-specific model.
Secondly, the GRAMS reference model defines constraints for the
simulation of an agent-based model. The definition of constraints
for the simulation of an agent-based model provides the starting
point for implementing different simulation engines. A simulation
