Introduction to Simulation

This is the home page for the course "Introduction to Simulation" in the winter term 2026/27. General information on this course can be found here.

Information

• If you are interested in participating in Simulation Project 2027 you MUST pass Introduction to Simulation and attend the KickOff in the last ItS lecture.
  
• Exam Date: ...
• Exam review: ...
• The lectures will be held in person. Recorded versions from a past term are accessible via mediasite.ovgu.de. Please use your OVGU-Account to log in. The links will be in the table below.
  
• The exercise classes will be held in person. The recorded versions from a past winter term are also available via mediasite.ovgu.de.
  
• Time and place of the lecture:
  • Monday 11-13 in G29-307 (Graham Horton)
• Times of the exercises:
  • Tuesday 15-17 in G29-K058 (Claudia Krull)
  • Thursday 11-13 in G29-K059 (...)
    
• The exercises will start after the second lecture:
  • Exercise classes start from 20.10.2026
• NOTE: The exam will be in English, you may use a dictionary and answer in either German or English. The Exam format will be multiple-coice.
• HINWEIS: Die Klausur ist auf Englisch, Wörterbücher sind erlaubt, ebenso wie Antworten auf Deutsch oder Englisch. Die Klausur ist Multiple-Choice.

The user name and password required to download the course material will be announced in the first lecture and exercise and if you missed that, you can ask for it via your ovgu email account.

You have two Semester Assignments to choose from:

• Star Trek - USS Enterprise in Danger
• The Sims - Almost Normal Family Life

Preliminary plan

NOTE: Slides and videos are from previous semesters, and might be updated prior to the actual exercise/lecture date. Videos will not be updated.

Video

Week	Lecture Date	Lecture Slides / Recordings	Exercise Date	Exercise Class Slides / Recodings	Assignments
1	12.10.	Organization Information /  Introduction / Video	--
2	19.10.	Modelling of ODEs / Video	20.10. / 22.10.	Introduction and Planetary Motion / Video	Getting to know AnyLogic
3	26.10.	Examples of ODEs / Video	27.10. / 29.10.	Continuous Modeling with Boundary Conditions / Video
4	02.11.	Solving ODEs/ Video	03.11. / 05.11.	Continuous Modelling Excercise / Video	SIR and Infant Vaccinations
5	09.11.	Discrete-Event Simulation / Video	10.11. / 12.11.	Events in AnyLogic / Video	Adding a Second Counter in the Bank
6	16.11.	Random Variables and Random Numbers / Video	17.11. / 19.11.	Process Modeling Library and Attributes / Video	Glucose and Insulin
7	23.11.	Input Modelling / Video	24.11. / 26.11.	Input Modelling / Excel File / Video	Input Data Analysis
8	30.11.	Output Analysis / Video	01.12. / 03.12.	Output Analysis / Video	Output Analysis
9	07.12.	Stochastic Petri Nets / Video	08.12. / 10.12.	Stochastic Petri Nets / Video	Stochastic Petri Nets
10	14.12.	Agent-based Modelling and Simulation / Video	15.12. / 17.12.	Agent-based Modelling and Simulation / Video	Agent-based Modelling and Simulation
11	04.01.	Markov Chains / Video	05.01. / 07.01.	DTMCs / Video	DTMCs
12	11.01.	Verification and Validation / Video	12.01. / 14.01.	Storage System / Video
13	18.01.	Comparing Systems / Video	19.01. / 21.01.	Comparing Systems / Video
14	25.01.	Kickoff Simulation Project 2027	-

Simulation Models

Lecture Models

• Eulers Method (xlsx)
• Coffee Problem (xlsx)
• Leaky Bucket (xlsx)
• Fountain - Three Leaky Buckets (alp)
• M/M/1 Queue (alp)
• M/M/1 Queue (xlsx)
• Lorenz Chaotic Equations (alp)
• Three Species Predator Prey Model (alp)

Exercise Models

• Sun and Earth (alp)
• Sun and Earth [System Dynamics Arrays] (alp)
• Bungee Jumper (alp)
• Coffee Problem (alp)
• Two Bodies Stiff (alp)
• Epidemic(SIR) (alp)
• The Bank (alp)
• Substance (alp)
• Two Class Medical Practice (zip)
• Medical Practice - A Business Perspective (zip)
• Game Of Life (alp)
• Flocking of Birds (alp)
• Flocking of Birds (alp - Video Version)
• Inventory System (zip)
• Correlated Sampling (alp)

Course Material

• AnyLogic Instructions page
• You have two Semester Assignments to choose from:
  • Star Trek - USS Enterprise in Danger
  • The Sims - Almost Normal Family Life

Exam Preparation

• NOTE: The exam format will be multiple-choice
• Archive of Previous ItS Exams
• Possible questions for oral exams

Information on Probability Distributions

• Probability distributions
• More probability distributions
• Quantile-Quantile plot
• Chi-square test (Microsoft Excel)

References

• Banks, Carson, Nelson & Nicol: Discrete-Event System Simulation (BCNN), relevant chapters are listed in the corresponding lecture slides
• J.D. Lambert: Computational methods in ordinary differential equations (Lam), especially chapters 1.3, 2.2, 2.6, 2.7, 8.5, 8.6