What is Simulation?
There are many different definitions of simulation, SIMUL8 software specializes in discrete event simulation described below. Discrete Event Simulation A simulation is a computer model that mimics the operation of a real or proposed system, such as the day-to-day operation of a bank, or the running of an assembly line in a factory, or the staff assignment of a hospital or call center. The model is time based, and takes into account all the resources and constraints involved, and the way these things interact with each other as time passes. Simulation also builds in the randomness you would see in real life. For example it doesn’t always take exactly 5 minutes for a customer to be served and a customer doesn’t always arrive every 15 minutes. This means that the model really can match reality – so something you try in the model will behave the same way as it would in real life.
Simulations, or planning sessions, are procedures that a radiation oncologist and patient schedule prior to beginning a course of radiation treatments. At this session, members of the radiation oncology team make devices which allow the patient to be treated in precisely the same position for each treatment. Images are made and measurements are taken which permit the calculation and delivery of precise, accurate, individualized treatments. Occasionally, dyes or contrast materials are used as part of this procedure.
This article discusses the nature of simulations, how they are constructed and validated, and whether a computer is necessary. The final part of the article discusses whether the act of simulation is a necessary part of the process or whether the rules and structures themselves are sufficient to define a simulation. This relates to Stephen Hawking’s musing: “What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?”.
