A family of languages for trustworthy agent-based simulation

Abstract

Simulation is a key tool for researching complex system behaviour. Agent-based simulation has been applied across domains, such as biology, health, economics and urban sciences. However, engineering robust, efficient, maintainable, and reliable agent-based simulations is challenging. We present a vision for engineering agent simulations comprising a family of domain-specific modelling languages (DSMLs) that integrates core software engineering, validation and simulation experimentation. We relate the vision to examples of principled simulation , to show how the DSMLs would improve robustness, efficiency, and maintainability o simulations. Focusing on how to demonstrate the fitness for purpose of
a simulator, the envisaged approach supports bi-directional transparency and traceability between the original domain understanding to the implementation, interpretation of results and evaluation of hypotheses.