Title: Fully dynamic epoch time synchronisation method for distributed supply chain simulation

Authors: Seungho Lee, Xiaobing Zhao, Ameya Shendarkar, Karthik Vasudevan, Young-Jun Son

Addresses: Systems and Industrial Engineering, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. ' Systems and Industrial Engineering, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. ' The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. ' Systems and Industrial Engineering, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. ' Systems and Industrial Engineering, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

Abstract: A dynamic epoch time synchronisation method for distributed simulation federates is presented. The proposed approach allows federates to advance their local times at full speed to the global safe point, which is dynamically estimated using the look-ahead function for each federate. The simulation then slows for an interaction between federates. This approach aims to reduce the number of time synchronisation occurrences and duration of the conservative phase. The distributed simulation is implemented using the web services technology. The experimental results reveal that the proposed approach reduces simulation execution time significantly while maintaining complete accuracy as compared with two existing methods.

Keywords: distributed simulation; time synchronisation; look-ahead algorithm; supply chain modelling; supply chain management; SCM; web services.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2008.018161

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2008 Vol.31 No.3/4, pp.249 - 262

Published online: 05 May 2008 *

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