Proceedings of the 2002 Winter Simulation Conference

E. Yücesan, C.-H. Chen, J. L. Snowdon, and J. M. Charnes, eds.

INTRODUCTION TO AWESIM

Jean O’Reilly

Frontstep, Inc.
1305 Cumberland Avenue
West Lafayette, IN 47996, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT

AweSim is a general-purpose simulation system which

takes advantage of Windows technology to integrate pro-
grams and provide componentware. AweSim includes the
Visual SLAM simulation language to build network,
subnetwork, discrete event, and continuous models. Net-
work models require no programming yet allow user-coded
inserts in Visual Basic or C. Discrete event and continuous
models can be created using the object-oriented technology
of Visual Basic, C or Visual C++ and can be combined
with network models. This tutorial will demonstrate the
process of using AweSim’s componentware, describe ex-
amples of user interfaces that allow integration with other
applications, and present a sample model.

1 INTRODUCTION
Figure 1: The AweSim Executive
AweSim is a program that supports the range of tasks re-
quired to perform a simulation project. AweSim also pro- changes made to the current scenario to determine if any
vides integrating capabilities to store, retrieve, browse and components have been modified and indicates whether
communicate with externally written software applications. translating tasks should be performed. The Project Main-
The most fundamental feature of the AweSim architecture tainer then allows the user to specify whether these tasks
is its openness and interconnectivity to databases, spread- should be done prior to performing the requested function.
sheets and word processing programs such as Microsoft Multiple tasks may be performed in parallel while a simu-
Office. AweSim is built in Visual Basic and C/C++ and lation is executed in the background. The simulation mod-
programs written in these languages are easily incorporated eler can switch between tasks by using a mouse to click in
into its architecture. The details on the capabilities of the appropriate window.
AweSim are contained in Pritsker and O’Reilly (1999). The use of the MS Windows interface simplifies learn-
An AweSim project consists of one or more scenarios, ing and provides the foundation for combining application
each of which represents a particular system alternative. A programs using that interface.
scenario contains component parts. Software programs
called builders are provided by AweSim to create each com- 2 MODEL INPUT
ponent. The AweSim executive window shown in Figure 1
describes an example scenario called EX81, which includes AweSim incorporates the Visual SLAM modeling method-
network, subnetwork, control and user data components. ology. The basic component of a Visual SLAM model is a
Component builders are accessed via the Components menu network, or flow diagram, which graphically portrays the
item or via the component’s pushbutton. flow of entities (people, parts or information, for example)
AweSim’s Project Maintainer determines if a model through the system. A Visual SLAM network is made up of
translation or compilation is required. Each time the mod- “nodes” at which processing is performed, connected by
eler requests a run, the Project Maintainer examines

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“activities” which define the routing of entities and the time clear statistics, queue ranking rules, etc.) and text builders
required to perform operations. Visual SLAM nodes provide for User Data files and Notes for documentation. The User
for such functions as entering or exiting the system, seizing Insert builder is either a text builder, if AweSim is installed
or freeing a resource, changing variable values, collecting for use with user inserts written in C, or the Microsoft Vis-
statistics, and starting or stopping entity flow based on status ual Basic development environment.
conditions. Entities may be given attributes, that is, charac-
teristics such as type, size, or arrival time, to distinguish 3 MODEL OUTPUT
them and control their processing.
A network is built interactively in AweSim by select- AweSim provides the ability to compare output from vari-
ing symbols from a graphical palette and dragging them to ous scenarios both graphically and textually. A report
the desired location with the mouse. The symbol’s pa- “browser” allows alternative textual outputs to be com-
rameters are specified by filling out a form, as illustrated pared side by side. Graphically, output may be viewed
by the ACTIVITY form shown in Figure 2. On-line error within AweSim in the form of bar charts, histograms, pie
checking is performed upon completion of the form so that charts, and plots. Bar charts can be used to display the
input errors can be corrected immediately. AweSim also value of a statistic across scenarios. It is possible to view
facilitates model building by providing context-sensitive multiple windows of graphical output at the same time, as
help and search capabilities. shown in Figure 4. Graphical and textual information from
Subnetworks are reusable network objects, which are the AweSim database can be exported to other Windows
invoked from a calling network. Subnetworks provide for packages such as EXCEL or Word for additional analysis
hierarchical models in which subnetwork instances are and for documentation.
independent, encapsulated objects, called with a set of pa-
rameters. This is illustrated by the node named CALLVSN 4 ANIMATION
in Figure 2. Double-clicking on this node brings up the
subnetwork builder for the named subnetwork, With the AweSim animator, one may develop and display
“INVENTORY”. The subnetwork builder, shown in Figure
multiple animations for a single scenario (Figure 5). For
3, works just like the network builder but with a slightly
example, the modeler can create one animation of a system
different set of nodes.
at an aggregate level and another at a department level,
In addition to the network and subnetwork builders,
AweSim includes a forms-based builder for developing run side by side in separate windows. The two views may then
controls (simulation run length, output options, when to be displayed by associating the animations with the current

Figure 2: The AweSim Network Builder

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Figure 3: The AweSim Subnetwork Builder

Figure 4: Multiple Report Windows

Figure 5: Animation with Multiple Windows
scenario and running the simulation. Animation con-
structs, called actions, correspond to elements in an Awe- 5 INTERACTIVE EXECUTION
Sim network model. For example, the ACTIVITY action
shows movement of a symbol. It requires that the modeler The AweSim Interactive Execution Environment (IEE)
define a symbol, a graphical path location where move- provides an interface with an executing simulation. The
ment of the symbol will be shown, and the number of an modeler may examine, modify, save, or load the current
activity in the AweSim model to which to tie the move- system status using the IEE. The IEE supports the debug-
ment. Other actions are provided to display resource ging of a model under construction and verification of a
status, items in a queue, variable values, and other system completed model. The analyst may use the IEE to develop
status conditions. The symbols manipulated by the anima- and analyze alternative control strategies for a system or to
tor are of two types: graphical items one wants to display demonstrate the operation of the model to non-modelers.
or move, and the background on which they will appear. The IEE control panel (Figure 6) lets you advance through
These symbols are stored in standard Windows bitmap the model step-by-step or by setting breakpoints. At any
format, allowing them to be exchanged between programs point you may examine variable values, statistics, or queue
using the Windows clipboard. entries or save the system status in order to reload and ex-
periment with alternative scenarios.

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Output data is stored in AweSim output tables, available

for creating custom reports using a favorite tool. In addi-
tion to standard output data, raw data from the simulation
can be stored in standard database or Excel format for
analysis, manipulation, or presentation. Data used to cre-
ate AweSim output graphics can also be exported “on the
fly” to an output file for use in any tool accepting comma-
delimited input.
An AweSim animation can use graphics created from
other programs. As mentioned in the discussion of anima-
tions, the graphical elements manipulated by the animator
can be created using CAD, drawing or paint programs and
loaded into AweSim by using the Windows bitmap format.
The output charts and plots created by AweSim can be ex-
ported via the clipboard to other applications. For exam-
ple, a pie chart created by AweSim may be copied to the
clipboard and pasted into a word processing document de-
Figure 6: Interactive Execution Environment scribing the results of the model.

6 SCENARIO SELECTOR 8 SUMMARY

From the Tools menu item in the AweSim Executive Win- AweSim is a simulation support system which takes
dow, you can invoke the Scenario Selector function, which advantage of Windows technology in order to provide a
provides algorithms for screening a set of scenarios or for simulation support system able to interface with a variety
selecting the best scenario from a set of scenarios. The ex- of familiar tools. It incorporates the Visual SLAM model-
ample shown in Figure 7 is invoking the Subset Selection ing methodology.
algorithm to select a scenario that maximizes weekly
profit. The Scenario Selector tool is described in Pritsker, REFERENCES
Goldsman, et al. (1999).
Pritsker, A.A.B., D. Goldsman, B.L. Nelson and T. L.
Opicka. 1999. A ranking and selection project: Ex-
periences from a university-industry collaboration, In
Proceedings of the 1999 Winter Simulation Confer-
ence, G. W. Evans, P. A. Farrington, and H. B. Nem-
hard, Eds.
Pritsker, A.A.B., and J.J. O’Reilly. 1999. Simulation with
Visual SLAM and AweSim, John Wiley and Systems
Publishing Corporation.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

JEAN O’REILLY is a Lead Support Analyst at Frontstep,

involved with quality assurance and support for SyteLine
APS as well as for the AweSim and Factor/AIM simulation
Figure 7: Scenario Selector software. For more than twenty years Ms. O’Reilly has
been involved in simulation software development and
7 INTEGRATION OF AWESIM WITH OTHER QA, in a variety of consulting projects, and in software
SOFTWARE training and support.

AweSim was designed to integrate easily with other Win-

dows applications. AweSim is built on a relational data-
base which is accessible with standard tools such as Dbase,
Access, FoxPro and Excel. Input data is easily moved
from an Excel worksheet to the AweSim input tables.

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