[Swarm-Modelling] Some Questions regarding SWARM M&S

[Sunwoo Park]

As a beginner, I would like to ask some questions to all of you regarding
SWARM Modeling and Simulation (M&S). Those questions are

I) What kind of simulation does SWARM offer ?
Discrete-time or discrete-event simulation ?  Or, ... ?
It is still not clear for me how SWARM maintains simulation time.
Does SWARM actually advance simulation time based on a certain time
management scheme (e.g., conservative, optimistic, risk-free, etc.) or just
simply increase a "time counter" ?
As my understanding, so far, SWARM looks like a system (or infrastructure),
rather than simulation framework, that permits creating, experimenting,
observing, and analyzing complex systems based on agents' behavior or
collaboration. The meaning of simulation in SWARM is agents' behavioral
evolution (or adaptation) to their environment over time ?

II) In the perspective of simulation modeling,
So far, SWARM modeling looks like "programming" rather than "simulation
modeling". So, I'm wondering how SWARM model can (1) represent state
transition, (2) keep time information regarding its dynamic internal states
(e.g., state holding time), (3) consume/produce events with simulation time
adjustment and/or dynamic state transition, (4) handle Input/Output event
conflict (e.g., when event consumption and event production occur at the
same time), etc. in generic (or formal) way ? Is there any activity
regarding SWARM agent modeling based on specific formalism(s) (or
mathematical modeling) in SWARM community ?

I appreciate for your comment and information in advance.

SW
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Sunwoo Park, Ph D. 
Postdoctoral Scholar, Biosystems Group,
Biopharmaceutical Science Dept., UCSF
S-926 Box 0446, HSE 1119, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122
E-Mail: address@hidden  | Phone: 415/514-2514 | Fax: 415/476-2744 |