Using split event sets to form and schedule event combinations in discrete event simulation

Abstract

Examines the operational characteristics of event set implementations in the presence of a large number of scheduled events. The authors examine a technique to reduce the number of items (i.e., events) to be scheduled by combining all the events to be processed by the same part of the simulation (referred to as a logical process) at the same simulation time. While fewer items need to be scheduled as a result of the formation of these event combinations in existing unified event set implementations, the scheduling must be done by both event time and the identity of the logical process which is to process the event. To address the complexity of this two-component priority, the authors introduce and examine several split event set implementations as schedulers. Empirical performance comparisons between unified and split implementations using closed queuing network and other simulations demonstrate the advantage of split implementations for large event sets.<>