Original article.
Andrea Emilio Rizzoli
IDSIA
Galleria 2
CH - 6928 Manno
Switzerland
A Collection of Modelling and
Simulation Resources on the
Internet

Last update: Dec 2005

Welcome to my list of simulation tools.
This is a review of simulation software that does not aim to be complete. Some of the links are outdated, and many more links are missing. If you want me to add a link to a particular tool, please send me an
.
Andrea Rizzoli
Software libraries Visual Simulation Tools and Environments Simulation languages and integrated environments
Hybrid Simulation Simulation of Industrial Processes and Networked systems Simulation based on the World Dynamics approach
Bond graphs Web based and distributed simulation Modelling and simulation of Environmental Resources
Agent-based simulation Qualitative simulation
 

Click on one of the above links to see a selection of simulation tools falling in the corresponding category.

Software libraries

C++SIM C++ libreries for simulation of discrete event systems. A must have in your toolkit.
JavaSIM The Java version of C++SIM.
DSOL DSOL is an open source, java based, suite for continuous and discrete event simulation, developed at TU Delft, in the Netherlands. Among its general features: distributed 2D and 3D animation supported, various random number generators, GIS/CAD files supported, statistics, charts included. Continuous simulation is facilitated thanks to: numerical integration of n-th order ordinary differential equations with various numerical integrators supported; realtime clock simulator for Emulation. In discrete event simulation event scheduling is specified through scheduled method invokation and the Single threaded Process Interaction formalism is specified. It implements a flow "formalism" (Arena-like).
DESMO-J DESMO-J is a Framework for Discrete-Event Modelling and Simulation targeted at programmers developing simulation models in Java. DESMO-J is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0
Simkit Simkit is a a package for creating Discrete Event Simulation (DES) models written in Java. Simkit is used as a platform to teach DES to Masters' students in Operations Research and MOVES at the Naval Postgraduate School and it is free software (LGPL).
SimTools, Version 2.7 A review of some simulation tools. Updated Jan 1995.
The Numerical Algorithms Group Ltd (NAG) Library of numerical algorithms
Netlib Library of numerical algorithms
Simulations in Java Sim Java library
CSIM19 Mesquite CSIM is a process-oriented, general purpose simulation toolkit written with general C language functions. The toolkit allows programmers to create and implement process-oriented, discrete-event simulation models.
Code by Law and Kelton Code examples in C and FORTRAN from the successful book "Simulation Modelling and Analysis, by A.V. Law and W.D. Kelton
SSS A library (coded in C) for discrete even system simulation by M. A. Pollatschek (visit his home page )
Mathtools A "portal" providing free access to a set of valuable resources for MATLAB, Excel, C, C++, Fortran and Java.
Warped WARPED is a public domain Time Warp simulation kernel written in C++. The distribution includes a plug-in sequential kernel to support comparative analysis to parallel executions. Primary development has been on Linux-based Pentium PCs, Sun Workstations, a 4-processor Sun SparcCenter 1000, and the Intel Paragon
baseSim iBright is the evolution of baseSim Simulation Components (formerly developed by solutionsBase, now defunct) are a suite of Visual Components designed to complement and extend the functionality of Borland Delphi v.4.0/5.0. They provide the means to produce simple or complex discrete-event Simulation Models.
OpEMCSS
The Operational Evaluation Modelling for Context-Sensitive Systems (OpEMCSS) is an add-on to the Extend simulation environment. It allows the user to represent Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) with relative ease.
TomasWeb
TomasWeb offers object-oriented simulation tools that are implemented in Delphi 5 and 6. They are all based on the 'process oriented approach': a description-method, where several events (state changes) are combined into one single 'process'. It therefore supports process-oriented simulation. TomasWeb has been developed primarly for education and research. It is a free simulation tool. It can be downloaded, but you will need Borland's Delphi to use it.
HighMAST object-oriented simulation library HighPoint Software Systems offers an object oriented simulation class library and framework. It is written in C# , and consists of 200+ classes, 70+ interfaces. The HighMAST framework is built as an open architecture library on Microsoft's capable .NET technology base. HighMast has also been successfully employed to deliver Agent-based and Hybrid simulations.
DEx DEx, the Dynamic Experimentation toolkit, aims to provide a fast, flexible, and easy-to-use platform for developing, analyzing, and visualizing dynamic multi-body simulations. The kernel and utility classes constitute a framework that can be used alone in C++ or in combination with the DEx language, a domain-specific language based on C++ designed for rapid prototyping. It compiles under Linux and it is available for download.
Simulacón 4 Simulacón 4 is a Microsoft Excel add-on developed by José Ricardo Varela, which transforms your spreadsheet in a discrete-event simulation tool. Written in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications), it features 34 different random number function generators, it allows Monte Carlo simulation up to 65.000 iterations and it handles up to 150 different inputs and 20 outputs. The simulation results are dispayed in 4 different worksheets, one for the data, one for summary stats of all variables and one for detailed statistics of a selected variable. The last worksheet is dedicated to sensitivity analysis of the results.
SimulAr Argentina is a fertile land for Excel add-ons. SimulAr, by Luciano Machain, is an Excel add-on designed for risk analysis based on a Monte Carlo approach. With SimulAr the user has a wide number of random variate generators available. SimulAr is not a simulation tool itself (in the same way as Simulacón isn't), but it is very valuable if you want to build a simulation model using Excel. Remember that difference equations are easy to implement in Excel, DEVS are not so easy, so you might like to have a look at tools such as XLSsim.
Insight and XLSsim The Insight suite is a set of Visual Basic for Applications programs running in Excel and it provides: XLSim Standard Edition (Monte Carlo Simulation, with up to 10,000 iterations and 5 output cells, 5 parameters); QUEUE.xla, and Excel add-on that allows to simulate simple queues; Q-NET.xla for simulating Queuing Networks; Markov.xls for Markov Chain template. Insight also includes XLForecast for Time Series Analysis and XLTree for Standard Edition and Decision Trees
 
Visual simulation tools  
VisSim VisSim (Visual Solutions), a visual block diagram language for nonlinear dynamic simulation. A block API allows users to create their own blocks in C/C++, FORTRAN, ADA, or Pascal. Addons allow real-time analog and digital I/O for real-time simulation, embedded system C code generation, optimization, neural nets, OPC, frequency domain analysis, scaled fixed point, IIR and FIR filter design. Demo available for download from the home page.
Extend Extend (Imagine That, Inc.) is a simulation environment used to model, analyze, and optimize processes. It has a lot of features like libraries of components, hierarchies of models, linking with MS Office, and the ability to model continuous, discrete event, and hybrid systems. Extend has its own modeling language (ModL) which resembles C, and the ability to call code from other languages. It has specialized packages for Industrial Systems, Operations Research, and Continuous Process simulations.
SIMUL8 SIMUL8 by Visual Thinking Intl. It allows the user to pick from a predefined set of simulation objects and statistical distributions to create the model. It also allows hierarchical modelling. Main focus on discrete event simulation.
Lean Modeler Produced as ajoint venture of Simul8 and Visual8, it is a value stream mapping tool. That is, Lean-Modeler is a process simulation tool designed for practitioners of Lean manufacturing. It combines familiar value stream mapping components with the power of process simulation to generate performance results for current state and future state value streams. Lean-Modeler value stream models are composed of intelligent simulation objects that represent all of the standard value stream mapping components, including: Supplier, Customers, Shipping, Inventory, Process, Supermarkets, Safety Stock, Work Cell. Lean-Modeler also supports a variety of information components that can be used to enhance both the appearance and utility of a model. Use these components in combination with the process components to create value stream maps rich with information: Kaizen Events, Memo Boxes, Production Control, Clock Parameters, Trucking, Pieces Per Day Scheduling, Go-See Scheduling.
Dymola The modelling environment Dymola, by Dynasim, an object oriented tool for modelling and simulation of continuous systems. Focus on robotics and mechanical systems. Now integrated with Modelica modelling language. Modelica allows integration and reuse of code developed in different modelling and simulation environments.
Awesim Awesim provides a simulation engine focused on the production of model animations thanks to Visual SLAM. Animations can be built graphically and the user can specify controls to build interactive simulations.
LabVIEW Labview (National Instruments): a visual programming environment, that enables interfacing with various measurement and laboratory devices. It now sports various simulation-relaated add-ons such as the NI LabVIEW SImulation module that allows to develop simulation models that acquire data in real-time using LabVIEW's data acquisition functions. It is also possible to import Simulink models in LabVIEW and to integrate Simulink models with a variety of real-time hardware I/O.
Goldsim
GoldSim is a general purpose simulator for nearly any kind of physical, financial or organizational system. Models are built graphically drawing an influence diagram of your system. Goldsim Academic is offered free for students, professors and teachers. Goldsim also provides a player that enables anyone to view your model, without requiring the installation of the full package. Goldsim also provides dedicated modules for specific issues such as contaminant transport, radionuclide decay. Goldsim simulation can also be run in a distributed environment thanks to the Godlsim DP component

BuildSim BuildSim, by Tritera, is an Integrated Environment for Design, Simulation and Analysis of Systems.
BuildSim is an interactive software application that integrates numerical analysis, block diagram mathematical representations, signal processing and
graphics in a graphical interactive environment.
It allows to generate source-code (C++ and Java). Available for Macintosh. There is a version available for download.
OptSim OptSim 4.0 is the result of the merge between the former OptSim 3.6 sample mode engine, implementing simulation in the time domain sample by sample using a linear convolution algorithm, and the LinkSIM block mode engine, impelenting the Frequency Domain Split Step. It is an intuitive modeling and simulation environment supporting the design and the performance evaluation of the transmission level of optical communication systems.
MicroSaint Micro Saint is a general purpose, flexible simulation software product. It has a graphical user interface and is based on a flow chart approach to modeling. Runs on Windows machines. Demo available for download.
EcosimPro EcosimPro is a continuous system simulator. It is capable of dealing with Differential Algebraic Equations.
It has a graphical user interface which facilitates the modeling task. Icons appearing in the model editor correspond to the real components of your system.
The user can specify the models using the dedicated EL language, which can call FORTRAN and C routines.
An interesting feature is the support of "simulation experiments" for a given model. A debugger is also available.
SimCreator SimCreator is a graphical simulation and modeling system. It is aimed at the simulation of continuous time systems.
It's interface is similar to Mathworks's Simulink. Simpler models can be connected to build complex models. Models can be nested. The graphical specification is then translated in C code. A beta version is avaliable for download , while a commercial version is expected for the 4th quarter of 2000.
Berleley Madonna A numerical simulation program for Macintosh and Windows computers. Designed to be a general solver of systems of ordinary differential equations. Developed at the University of California at Berkeley for teaching and research, it has been used for six years in classrooms and laboratories.
It is Shareware, download here .
XJ Technologies XJ Technologies provides a set of tools, all of them with a visual development environment, for different simulation fields: hybrid simulation (AnyLogic), parallel systems (Covers), and statecharts (AnyStates).
Simprocess Simprocess is an object-oriented, process modeling and analysis tool. It combines the simplicity of flowcharting with the power of simulation, statistical analysis, Activity-Based Costing (ABC), and animation.
SansGUI SansGUI is modeling and simulation environment for developing and deploying scientific and engineering simulators without writing any graphical user interface code. SansGUI is currently available for Microsoft Windows platforms. Microsoft Visual C++ and Compaq Visual Fortran are supported for creating highly interactive in-process simulators while other languages can be used to develop external process simulators.
SimCreator
SimCreator is a graphical simulation and modeling system. At the top level is a GUI interface that allows placement and connection of various components. Each component can either be a subgroup made up of additional components, or a C Code component.
It resembles Simulink in the "look-and-feel".

QX3D QX3D is an editor and a code generator that helps you visualize and animate your mechanical model. Just tell it the bodies to be connected, their geometric attributes (i.e. frame location,orientation), and the body shapes, then it will generate the VRML codes to visualize it for you. Large number of hapes can be assigned to each body. You can also animate it with thesimulation results base on your multibody dynamics simulation. Demos available.
SimCad Pro

SimCAD Pro is a Process Simulation and modeling tool, which allows top down modelling of complex industrial processes. The main process flow is defined and then each process cell is expanded into its individual processes. CreateAsoft, the maker of SimCad pro, also provides a viewer to show and distribute your simulations.

SIGMA

SIGMA claims to have been the first graphical simulation environment running on Windows. It is a valid eductaional tool, since it allows the modeller to describe the system using process flow charts. It is also able to manage complex systems, thanks to Event Graphs. These Event Graphs can be edited evend during the simulation.
Supplemental resources can be found on the OR and MS course at Cornell University, where SIGMA is used as a simulation tool in the classroom.

Visual Components

Visual Components provides tools to package complex automation systems into re-useable simulation components that are lightweight, easily customized and distributed via email. The re-useable visual components save automation companies costs in all phases of a system's life-cycle. These components implement COM interfaces and run in a Windows environment. The components are also scriptable using the Python language.

Bond graphs

MS1 MS1 by Lorenz Simulation is a continuos system simulator with the ability to let designers to use different modeling languages such as Bond Graphs, Linear Graphs, Block Diagrams and Equational Models and also to employ alternative model solvers such as ACSL, ESACAP, CSSL IV, DASSL, etc.
20-sim 20-sim (developed by Controllab products, derived from TwenteSim) bond graphs and blocks modelling system for continuous systems. Developed at the University of Twente. Demo download.
Symbols 2000 Symbols 2000, a product of two decades of research at the Indian Institute of Technology of Kharagpur, is a graphical modeling, simulation and control software. It provides an object oriented modeling tool using bond graphs, block diagrams, and equation models to model dynamic systems. Online simulation with event handlers. Pre-cast sub-models for advanced engineering components. Full C++ compatibilty. Analog, digital and state-space analysis using control systems module.
Demos for DOS and NT are available for download .
CAMP-G
The modeller can design Bond Graphs models of mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, thermal and control systems, CAMP-G is a model generating tool that interfaces with languages such as MATLAB, SIMULINK, ACSL and others to perform computer simulations of physical and control systems.
MTT
MTT, the Model Transformation Tools, comprises a set of tools for modelling dynamic physical systems using the bond graph methodology and transforming these models into representations suitable for analysis, control and simulation. These tools use, and generate m files for, GNU Octave. MTT is free software licensed under the GNU General Public License.


Integrated environments (modelling language + simulation environment)

NI MATRIXx New life for MATRIXx. After having been owned by ISI, then acquired by WindRiver, it is now in the safe hands of National Instruments, the makers of LabView. Renamed NI-MATRIXx, it is advertised as a software suite for model-based control design and it provides automatic code generation for real-time embedded systems. It now features a tight integration with other NI software.
SIMULINK and MATLAB MATLAB: the leading language for technical computing, DSP, control design, etc. SIMULINK provides a graphical interface to some of the MATLAB functions, thus enabling the user to graphically design models and control systems
Note that MIDEVA, a MATLAB clone which boosted a faster performance thanks to a better compiler was acquired by MathWorks and it will be included in future releases of MATLAB.
Octave and Scilab Free software which can compete with Matlab and MatrixX. Scilab is a scientific software package for numerical computations in a user-friendly environment
Scicos Scicos is a a dynamic systems modeler and simulator. It is a 'Scilab toolbox' and it is included in the Scilab Package.Ê Written in Fortran, C and Scilab language, it comes with complete source code.
SimLab This is the initial release of the SimLab software. Includes mathematical functionality for algebraic and topological computations and code for creating triangulations of planar areas. Developed by Cornell University.
FreeMat It is similar to commercial systems such as MATLAB from Mathworks, and IDL from Research Systems, but is Open Source. FreeMat includes several novel features such as a codeless interface to external C/C++/FORTRAN code, parallel/distributed algorithm development (via MPI), and plotting and visualization capabilities.
SDX SDX is a high performance Fortran based Problem Solving Environment for dynamics (continuous,discrete,hybrid) related applications in science and engineering.
ACSL Sim ACSL is owned by AEgis Technologies Group, Inc. ACSL Sim combines the core language ACSL, with a complete set of ACSL runtime libraries, the ACSL translator, the ACSL system macro file, the ACSL builder, and an easy to use graphical user interface to give the user an interactive and simulation-friendly development environment.
DESIRE DESIRE (Direct Executing SImulation in REal Time) is a very fast interactive modeling and simulation of dynamic systems, used in industry and education since 1986. Runtime compilation lets your programs execute without translation delays. This permits truly interactive modeling and immediate comparisons of live models. An academic version that allows to handle aÊsix state system can be downloaded for free. DESIRE/2000 for Windows includes an experiment-protocol language for controlling multirun simulation studies, and an industrial-strength differential-equation solver. DESIRE/2000 handles up to 20,000 first-order differential equations entered in readable scalar or matrix notation, with a choice of 14 integration rules. Multiple models can include user-designed neural networks and fuzzy logic.
Simulation languages

SimPy SimPy (= Simulation in Python) is an object-oriented, process-based discrete-event simulation language based on standard Python and released under the GNU GPL. It provides the modeler with components of a simulation model including processes, for active components like customers, messages, and vehicles, and resources, for passive components that form limited capacity congestion points like servers, checkout counters, and tunnels. It also provides monitor variables to aid in gathering statistics. Random variates are provided by the standard Python random module. SimPy comes with data collection capabilities, GUI and plotting packages. It can be easily interfaced to other packages, such as plotting, statistics, GUI, spreadsheets, and data bases. SimPy is under active development by an international development team. It can be downloaded free of charge from http://simpy.sourceforge.net.
ACSL Sim ACSL (a language for simulation of continous system) by AEgis Research into ACSL Sim, a tool for the simulation of continuous systems.
SLAM II This is not the official page, but there are a few information on how SLAM works. This page is susceptible to disappear in the short future. Pritsker corp. has set up the Simsource.com site where we can find a description of Visual SLAM.
GPSS/H The Wolverine General Purpose Simulation System. A language for discrete event simulation.
Ptolemy Project Ptolemy is a research project and software environment focused on the design of reactive systems, providing high-level support for signal
processing, communications, and real-time control.
MODSIM III A language for simulation both object and process oriented. MODSIM was recently sold to Compuware. As of May 2003, I have heard that CACI is trying to migrate MODSIM users to SIMSCRIPT, but I have no information on Compuware stance on this. On the other hand, Compuware does not seem interested in supporting MODSIM in the future.
Simscript II.5 Free-form, English-like simulation development and modeling language. SIMSCRIPT II.5 is designed to be used for discrete-event and combined discrete/continuous simulations. Simscript III, a novel object-oriented and process oriented simulation language has been announced.
Simple_1 SIMPLE_1 supports modeling discrete and continuous systems world views using a network modeling orientation. Features of the language include the ability of the user to declare variables and statistics requirements, perform I/O operations on files and to animate simulation results in real time easily utilizing built in language features. SIMPLE_1 utilizes a repetitive approach to run control to facilitate goal seeking modeling and run length definition based on model behavior. SIMPLE_1 is now released under the GNU GPL and it compiles under RedHat Linux.
JiST JiST is a high-performance discrete event simulation engine that runs over a standard Java virtual machine. It is a prototype of a new general-purpose approach to building discrete event simulators, called virtual machine-based simulation, that unifies the traditional systems and language-based simulator designs. JiST is developed by Cornell Research Foundation, Inc. and it is free for non commercial use.
Pasion Pasion is an object-oriented simulation language. The language has a process/event structure. Pasion source code is translated in Pascal, compatible with Delphi v3 or later. It can be used to model Queuing models, Continuous processes and allows the use of the Bond graphs paradigm.
A dowloadable demo is available on the website. Pasion's home page can be slow in downloading because of various ad banners.
WinSAAM The WinSAAM modeling system is a Windows-based version of the SAAM and Consam modeling systems. It has been developed under the auspices of the Laboratory of Experimental and
Computational Biology, of the Division of the Cancer Biology and Diagnosis, of the National
Cancer Institute. It is provided freely for use in scientific research.
MathCore MathCore AB offers two main products: MathCore C++, an add-on to the well known Mathematica environment that compiles a subset of Mathematica into highly efficient C++ code. MathCode C++ provides a platform for rapid development of simulations and other expensive computations. MathModelica is is an implementation of Modelica in Mathematica. MathModelica permits object oriented design of physical systems for simulation and visual programming using a graphic editor. MathModelica integrates documentation,
runnable code, graphic connection diagrams and mathematical formulae in Mathematica notebooks.
Parsec Parsec is a C-based simulation language, developed by the Parallel Computing Laboratory at UCLA, for sequential and parallel execution of discrete-event simulation models. It can also be used as a parallel programming language. It is available in binary form only for academic institutions. Commercial users are directed to its commercial implementation, marketed by Scalable Networks technologies.
XMLlab XMLlab is an XML-based simulation authoring environment. The proposed description language allows to describe mathematical objects such as systems of ordinary differential equations, systems of non-linear equations, partial differential equations in two dimensions, or simple curves and surfaces. It also allows to describe the parameters on which these objects depend. This language is independent of the software and allows to ensure a relative perennity of authors work, as well as collaborative work and content reuse. The simulation is written in XML, according to the DTD file, then transformed into a Scilab-executable file


Agent-based simulation

SeSAm
SeSAm (Shell for Simulated Agent Systems) provides a generic environment for modelling and experimenting with agent-based simulation. SeSAm agents consist of a body, that contains a set of state variables and a behaviour that is implemented in form of UML-like diagram. Based on an extensive number of primitive components, a user is able to design a simulation graphically without knowing the syntax of a traditional programming language. It is written in Java and it is freeely downloadable.
Ps-i
An environment and a simulation language for running agent-based simulations. Models are written using the standard Tcl/Tk scripting language and a graphical interface can also be used.
SimWalk SimWalk is an agent-based pedestrian simulation software developed by Savannah Simulation in cooperation with the ETH Zurich, in Switzerland. With SimWalk you can model and simulate the behaviour of large aggregations of people in places such as shopping centres, railway stations, bridges, airports and so on.
Brahms Brahms is a multi-agent language with a virtual machine on top of the Java VM. The Brahms VM can run in simulation mode or in real-time mode, which allows us to use Brahms also as a MAS development environment. It can be used freely for research purposes.


Simulation based on the World Dynamics approach

Powersim From Norway, a simulation tool which a marked "penchant" for Web Simulation. Free demos available.
Vensim Vensim, a system simulator from Ventana Systems, based on the world dynamics approach. For Windows and Macintosh. Demo download available. Free for personal use.
Stella + Ithink From High Performance Systems. Stella demo available.
ModelMaker Modelmaker (formerly Cherwell Software Publisher, now from ModelKineti.comx) is a tool for modelling and simulation of compartmental systems. Demo, time limited, fully functional, is available for Windows systems.
Berkeley Madonna Already listed in the "Visual Environments" category, it also provides the World Dynamics modelling paradigm.
SIMILE Simile is a software environment for building and running simulation models in ecology, biology, environmental science and related disciplines. It features a powerful and expressive diagram-based language for designing models, including both System Dynamics and object-based concepts. System Dynamics is an intuitive and widely-used notation for describing dynamics in terms of storages and flows, while objects provide a natural way for describing system composition and relationships. Simile also supports modular model construction, and modules can be nested to any depth. The resulting models can be run very efficiently as compiled C programs, and delivered to others as stand-alone models. Simile provides a range of tools for displaying model behaviour - but also allows you to add your own, customised to your own needs.

 
Hybrid Simulation
Hybrid simulation deals with mixing discrete events and continuos simulations
Shift Shift is a programming language for describing dynamic networks of hybrid automata, consisting of continuous-time phases separated by discrete-event transitions. A project developed at Berkeley, by California Path.
CESIMO The Cesimo Group of the University of the Andes in Venezuela is active in research on hybrid simulation.
AnyLogic

AnyLogic is a virtual prototyping environment for complex systems with discrete, continuous, and hybrid behavior. AnyLogic enables you to rapidly build a simulation model - a virtual prototype - of the system under development and its environment, including physical objects and human users. There is no proprietary script or block diagram language the user needs to learn to use AnyLogic. The modeling technology is entirely based on UML-RT Unified Modelling Language for Real-Time.

 

Simulation of Industrial Processes

SIMAS II SIMAS II is devoted to the simulation of industrial mass-production installations in the fields of automated assembly and food
packaging.
gPROMS gPROMS, targeted to continuous systems modelling and simulation, is designed to be both a fully-fledged simulation environment in its own right, and a simulation engine which can be embedded in vendor applications to provide a
comprehensive design and operations tool.
SimBax SIMBAX is a decision support tool built specifically to fulfill the needs of the process industries in the area of material flow
simulation. SIMBAX allows you to quickly evaluate and
compare a variety of alternative scenarios in order to easily eliminate bottlenecks and find a solution avoiding non-productive occupation of the equipment and resources.
SES/Workbench SES/Workbench, by HyPerformix, is a simulation tool for hardware architectures and complex systems in general. It supports the design of the simulation model from an object-oriented perspective and it provides both a graphical interface to enter the problem definition and a graphical animation of the simulation to represent the results. It is available for a wide range of platforms, from Unix flavours to Windows NT.
WITNESS WITNESS, by Lanner Group, provides a graphical environment to design discrete event simulation models. It allows to automate simulation experiments, optimize material flow across the facility, and generate animated 3D virtual reality models.
WebDemos are available.
ARENA The home of ARENA (by Systems Modelling Corp) which has an object-oriented design and the ability to be tailored to any application area. Is based on SIMAN modelling language.
EASY5 EASY5, developed by Boeing Inc., is a software used to model and simulate dynamic systems containing hydraulic, pneumatic, mechanical, thermal, electrical and digital sub-systems. A complete set of control system modeling, analysis and design features is included.
The European distributor is Applied Dynamics International Ltd .
SIMPLORER A simulator for industrial design, research projects and teaching purposes. External code can be embedded. Has its own language. Allows for hierarchical structures.
A free demo can be oredered and received via snailmail.
Promodel ProModel Optimization Suite is a simulation-based software tool for evaluating, planning or re-designing manufacturing, warehousing and logistics systems.
AutoMod AutoMod suite provides simulation software that gives a 3D visual image of a facility as well as statistics of how the facility will perform.
Delmia The DELMIA Resource Modeling and Simulation solution suite provides the tools to develop, create and implement resources, application routines and mechanical programming. Resources such as robots, tooling, fixtures, machinery, automation and ergonomics are defined and infused into a complete scenario of manufacturing. It allows to define complete simulations of systems such as: Factory Flow simulations, Robotic workcell setup and OLP, NC Machining, Inspection Ergonomics.
Enterprise Dynamics Enterprise Dynamics (formerly known as Taylor ED) is an object-oriented software application used to model, simulate, visualize and control business processes. Most notably, a complete simulation model can be built and simulated in a full VR environment. The software can be used not only for industrial applications but is also a visual simulation tool where the user can use the 4D-script programming language to create his own models.
Flexsim Flexsim is a PC-based simulation software application used to model, simulate, and visualize business process. Flexsim can help you determine plant capacity, balance manufacturing lines, manage bottlenecks, solve inventory and WIP problems, test new scheduling practices, optimize production rates, and justify capital expenditures. Every model in Flexsim can be viewed in 3D virtual reality animation.
Besides all of this, Flexsim provides the modeller with the ability to program models and submodels directly in C++, leaning on the powerful simulation and graphic libraries of Flexsim. Demo available
DynaWiz DynaWiz is a general purpose multibody dynamics simulation program used in the aerospace, automotive, and robotics industries. It works with the C, C++ and Fortran control codes and it runs with Matlab/Simulink also. In both cases, you supply the control logic and DynaWiz takes care of the dynamics for you. It supports forward and inverse dynamics. It accomodates prescribed motion, flexible body dynamics, and restart capability. Demo version of
Dynawiz is available.
AMESim AMESim is a software dedicated to modelling and simulation of fluid power systems such as gearboxes, wheel transmissions, etc. It has also a library to model and simulate cooling systems, heat exchangers, etc. AMESim finds its applications in the area of automotive and aerospace industries. AMESim runs on multiple platforms such as HP/UX, Silicon Graphics, IBM RS/6000, Sun SPARCs, and Windows NT.
ShowFlow ShowFlow Simulation is designed to model, simulate, animate and analyse processes in logistics, manufacturing and material handling. It provides powerful visualisation and reporting tools, in particular for simulation animation. The modeller is facilitated by the availability of many simulation components ready to run.
The price is also very attractive. A trial demo is available for download.
Universal Mechanism 2.0 This software is intended for simulation of kinematics and dynamics of planar and spatial mechanical systems. The following performances are available as results: coordinates, velocities, accelerations, reaction forces, forces in active elements etc.
Mechanical systems are described by means of representing them as systems of rigid bodies connected by various kinematical pairs and force elements, so-called multibody systems. Online animation of motion and plots of dynamical performances are available during simulation.
HCADWin
HCADwin is a program for drawing, printing and executing logic and control. An included  simple language can be used to simulate a process. HCAD was first developed in 1994 for a huge real time training's simulator (energy plant, 53.000 tags) in order to simulate 100 PLC's and provide a means of integration between the model (ACSL™) and the visualization.

HCADwin runs on Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP. It is particularly suited for training's simulators but also for designing and testing functional logic diagrams.

FoCs
FoCs (developed by IBM, short for Formal Checkers, pronounced "fox") is a productivity tool for automatic generation of simulation monitors from formal specifications. It greatly aids chip designers and verification engineers in the complex, costly task of verifying chip designs before submitting them to manufacturing. FoCs is being used by internal IBM users, as well as by external customers. FoCs users report a improvement (up to 50%) in "testbench" development time.
ITI-SIM ITI-SIM is used for modeling and simulation of dynamical behavior of technical components and systems. Moreover the software is extraordinarily suitable for analysing and valuating of nonlinear vibration phenomenon in the mechanical, automotive and system engineering. Various physical domains are supported in one model, where every domain is functioned with the methods and symbols concerning to (e.g. hydraulics/pneumatics is circuit diagram oriented, mechanics with masses and springs, control technology is block oriented etc.), which simplifying the interdisciplinary task substantially and demanding.
ML Designer MLDesigner is a simulation modeling platform that integrates both major system-level modeling areas (architecture and function) and most simulation modeling domains (Discrete Event, Finite State Machine, Dataf Flow and Continuous Time/Discrete Event) in a single tool. MLDesigner models are built graphically with hierarchical block diagrams. MLDesigner has a rich collection of debugging tools and is readily extensible: users can add new primitives, high level blocks, examples, new domains and links to other tools. Recent applications include processor and computer architectural performance analysis, System-on-a-Chip (SOC) co-design, network (wired and wireless) analysis, protocol design, cellular system analysis, and business and industrial processes.
ReThink ReThink, by GenSym, is a simulation tool for Business process Reengineering. ReThink supports the business process lifecycle from as-is analysis, to design of new processes, and it also supports the 'in-the'loop' implementation within an online automation platform. It can run on a standard Windows-based machine. Not much information is available on the website, which requires the user to register to access extra documentation. No demo available. My suggestion is to contact the software maker, in case you are interested.
Spar The SPAR Monte Carlo simulation engine can be used to create fully customizable, scalable models of complex systems, and perform discrete event simulation. SPAR takes a component reliability-centered approach to modelling the life cycle behavior of complex expensive assets and their operating environments. SPAR, by Clockwork Solutions, is the core engine on which many custom tools and applications are built. These software tools include: ATLAST - Aviation Fleet Management; PS-PLUS - Gas Turbine Power Plants; STORM - Process Plant Analysis; ENRiCO - Electricity Distribution Systems; and SPARopt - Spare Parts Optimization.
emPlant emPlant is a simulator for various fields, Logistics, Engineering, production. It provides a hierarchical library of simulation modules and it is object-oriented.
SimFlex SimFlex is a diagnostic and decision support technology for supply chains that enables companies to optimize the overall supply chain and simulate supply chain dynamics, and real-world variations. Unfortunately no demo or product sheet is available on the website.
Schedula Schedula is a tool for simulating a network of activities that process items (documents, patients, mechanical parts,...) and compete for resources. It handles N batches (or classes) of homogeneous items, M activities, carried out by workstations, and K types of shared resources. Compared to other commercial simulation packages, Schedula is a lean or "bare bones" product. It entails no simulation language, no programming, no visual programming of graphical objects, no animation.
DOSIMIS-3 DOSIMIS-3 is a simulator for material flow, but its flexibility allows to simply develop models for differents application areas such as transport systems and assembly lines. It is programmed in C/C+1 and computational speed is one of DOSIMIS's features. It runs under Windows. A demo is available from download (the website is in German).
MMS MMS, the Modular Modeling System, is used for dynamic, continuous simulation of the thermal-hydraulic, electrical, and control logic processes occurring in process and power plants for over twenty years. There is a Windows-based MMS graphical modeler used to synthesize a system model schematic from typical plant components that are selected from a library of hundreds of components which have been pre-programmed and tested. There is also the capability for the user to add his own component models into the graphical environment with MMS CompGen. These process models are used for engineering design and analysis, control system checkout, and high-fidelity plant operator control room (real-time) training simulators. MMS is available worldwide from nHance Technologies, Inc.
ProDyn ProDyn is a dynamic operator training simulator tool. A user-friendly interface allows the user the capability to train, learn and test the various dynamic operations of a process model. These tools are Web Enabled and OPC compliant and hence allow direct connection with DCS systems, SCADA/HMI interfaces, reactor algorithms and other third party packages.

Simulation of network and grid systems
OMNeT++ OMNeT++ is ancomponent-based, modular and open-architecture simulation environment with strong GUI support and an embeddable simulation kernel. The simulator can be used for modelling: communication protocols, computer networks and traffic modelling, multi-processors and distributed systems, etc. OMNeT++ also supports animation and interactive execution. It is freely distributed under an academic public license.
ns2 Ns is a discrete event simulator targeted at networking research. Ns provides substantial support for simulation of TCP, routing, and multicast protocols over wired and wireless (local and satellite) networks. Ns is devloped by ISI, the Information Sciences Institute at the USC school of engineering. The full source code of ns 2 can be downloaded and it can be compiled of multiple platform, including most popular Unix flavours and Windows.
GloMoSim GloMoSim is a scalable simulation environment for wireless and wired network systems. It employs the parallel discrete-event simulation capability provided by Parsec. GloMoSim currently supports protocols for a purely wireless network. In the future, we anticipate adding functionality to simulate a wired as well as a hybrid network with both wired and wireless capabilities. GloMoSim source and binary code can be downloaded only by academic institutions for research purposed. Commercial users must use QualNet, the commercial version of GloMoSim.
SWANS SWANS is a scalable wireless network simulator built atop the JiST platorm. SWANS is organized as independent software components that can be composed to form complete wireless network or sensor network configurations. Its capabilities are similar to ns2 and GloMoSim, but is able to simulate much larger networks. SWANS leverages the JiST design to acheive high simulation throughput, save memory, and run standard Java network applications over simulated networks. In addition, SWANS implements a data structure, called hierarchical binning, for efficient computation of signal propagation.
QualNet
QualNet is a modelling tool for wireless and wired network,. The QualNet suite is composed of QualNet Simulator, which claims to be the fastest for real-time traffic modelling. QualNet Animator allows to graphically design the network model (using a wide library of components) and it displays the results of simulation runs. QualNet Designer allos to create Finite State Automata to describe the behaviour of your network, while with QualNet Analyzer and Designer you can interpret and make sense of simulation results. Windows and Linux versions are available. A demo can be downloaded on request.
cnet CNET is a simulator of computer networks. This simulator is not really focused on industrial simulation 'per-se', but to an aspect of it. It is a discrete-event network simulator enabling experimentation with various data-link layer, network layer, routingand transport layer networking protocols. It has been specifically developed for, and used in, undergraduate computer networking courses taken by thousands of students worldwide.

OPNET's suite of products combine predictive modeling and a comprehensive understanding of networking technologies to enable customers to design, deploy, and manage network infrastructure, network equipment, and networked applications.
In particular OPNET Modeler is a development environment, allowing you to design and study communication networks,devices, protocols, and applications.

Traffic v2.0 Traffic version 2 is a simulation product designed to solve complex call-centre modelling problems, where traditional Erlang equations fail, but it can also be applied to any other queueing problem. It has an easy to use graphical interface and it runs under Windows.
NCTUns 2.0 The NCTUns is a high-fidelity and extensible network simulator and emulator capable of simulating various protocols used in both wired and wireless IP networks. Its core technology is based on the novel kernel re-entering methodology. NCTUns can be used as an emulator, it directly uses the Linux TCP/IP protocol stack to generate high-fidelity simulation results, and it has many other interesting qualities. It is commercialised by SimReal Inc.
Performance Prophet The Performance Prophet is a tool for modeling and simulation of high performance computing systems based on CSIM (Mesquite Software). Based on a UML model of an application and a simulator for a target architecture, the tool can predict the execution behavior of the application model on cluster and grid architectures. Performance Prophet has been deveoped at the Distributed and Parallel Systems Group of the University of Innsbruck and it has been supported by the Austrian Science Fund.
GTNetS The Georgia Tech Network Simulator (GTNetS), developed by Dr George Riley, is a full-featured network simulation environment that allows researchers in computer networks to study the behavior of moderate to large scale networks, under a variety of conditions. The design philosophy of GTNetS is to create a simulation environment that is structured much like actual networks are structured. For example, in GTNetS, there is clear and distinct separation of protocol stack layers. It is availabe for download from the website.

Web based and distributed simulation
In the near future it will be more and more difficult to draw a line between web simulation and traditional simulation. In my opinion, web simulation must allow the simulation and interaction of distributed entities. Not all of the tools listed below are ready for this, but they somehow aim in that direction.
Silk Silk is a Java-based modeling tool for the simulation, study and improvement of industrial systems. Silk is a modeling tool which merges the process-description modeling methodology within an object-oriented language. An educational version is available on request.
SLX SLX builds on the strengths of Wolverine's GPSS/H. SLX is structured as a multiplicity of layers, ranging from its C-like SLX kernel, at the bottom, through traditional simulation languages, e.g., GPSS/H, in the middle, to application-specific language dialects and extensions at the top. SLX contains powerful extensibility mechanisms for building new layers atop old ones. SLX has been coupled with other software, including DoD's High Level Architecture (HLA).
STARDIS STARDIS is a simulation tool developed by EDS (http://eds.com) that has been used by EDS for over ten years for predicting the behaviour of future
military command and control systems and future communications systems. It has also been used for some civil projects.
STARDIS uses an object-oriented, event based approach to model real world entities and their communications. All the relevant discrete activities involved in the real world system are encapsulated in STARDIS entities using a mixture of rules written in structured English, and, if required, more complex routines written in a high level computer language.
JSIM JSIM is a Java-based simulation and animation environment supporting Web-Based Simulation. In JSIM, simulation models may be built using either the event package (Event-Scheduling Paradigm) or the process package (Process-Interaction Paradigm). In addition, a graphical designer (jmodel package) allows process models to be be rapidly built graphically. The qds package (Query Driven Simulation) under development controls the storage, retrieval and execution of simulation models as Java Beans and utilizes JDBC to access databases. It also stores model inputs and outputs. Finally, JSIM has three foundation packages: queue, statistic and variate.
RT-LAB RT-LAB is a simulation software used by major companies such as Ford, GM, NASA, Toyota, Canadian Space Agency... and it allow simulating Simulink and MATRIXx models in real-time with a network of PCs interconnected with Internet or Firewire or Giganet. It runs under Windows. Demo available.
GridSim The primary objective of the GridSim project is to investigate effective resource allocation techniques based on computational economy through simulation. Millions of resources and thousands of users with varied requirements must be simulated. The scalability of systems, algorithms, efficiency of resource allocation policies and satisfaction of users is studied. GridSim is a research project based on SimJava .
Forio
Forio brings web-simulation a step forward since it lets the user enter his/her own model, using a scripting language and then it provides web-based tools to design the user interface. The simulation engine resides on the Forio web server. The main focus is on business simulations and they are geared towards operational issues (e.g. development of market strategy).
Modelling and Simulation of Environmental Resources
This new category aims to list software tools for modelling and simulation of environmental systems such as water catchments, reservoirs, ecosystems, etc. Most probably it will evolve in a dedicated home page in the near future.
ICMS
The Integrated Catchment Management System (ICMS) is aPC-based software product, developed to facilitate the rapid development and delivery of catchment science to catchment managers. It implements a 'layered' approach to development, and delivery, through the use of four components. These are:ICMSBuilder– the central engine; Models embedded in the ICMS MDL(model libraries) – proprietary, free-ware and newly developed models; ICMS Projects– suites of linked models, and their data; ICMS Views – DLLs which provide tailored views of Projects
Tarsier

The Tarsier modelling framework is a modular collection of Windows software that enables fast development and deployment of a wide variety of environmental computing tools. These tools include simulation models, data storage and analysis tools, and visualization systems. The system supports many structures for the organization of quantitative environmental information, including: gridded maps, networks, time series, and simple lists of geographic locations. Upon these are built analytical tools covering topics such as interpolation, statistics, sampling, and data transformation. At the top level are modules that implement a variety of simulation models, from cellular automata to stream pollutant routing models to large-scale spatial catchment hydrology models.

SEMoLa SEMoLa (Simple, Easy to use, MOdelling LAnguage) is a non procedural meta-language to build simulation models for continuous/event driven, deterministic/stochastic systems, developed at the Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Department, University of Udine (Italy). While it is very generic, it has been successfully used to model biological, ecological and agricultural systems, at different scale and complexity level. The SEMoLa language is integrated in a simulation environment that simplifies the tasks of model building, simulation and documentation; moreover it provides calibration, validation, data management, neural network building, unit verification features and others.
JDEVS JDEVS is the outcome of the current PhD work of Jean Baptiste Filippi and it is still under development. JDEVS implements Zeigler's DEVS paradigm and it is particularly suited for modeling and simulation of natural complex systems.
Ecolego Ecolego, developed by Facilia, is a tool for modelling dynamic systems and to perform risk assessments using model simulations. It requires the Simulink toolbox of the Matlab platform. The graphical user interface helps the user to define and manage building blocks, parameters, species and simulation settings. Ecolego also helps to create reports, to plot simulation results, to perform probabilistic simulations and sensitivity analysis. Even though Ecolego can be used to simulate any species and dynamic system, it has been specially designed to fulfil specific needs in the field of radio ecological risk assessment. It is platform independent and it runs under Mac OSX, Linux and Windows.
Qualitative simulation
Instead of quantities, numbers, we simulate the evolution of a dynamic system by its qualities, expressed as nouns, adjectives.
QSim QSim is a A tool for Modeling and Simulation with Incomplete Knowledge. It is implemented as simulator of systems of qualitative differential equations. It has been developed by ben Kuipers at the University of Texas at Austin.



Software libraries Visual Simulation Tools Simulation languages and integrated environments
Hybrid Simulation Simulation of Industrial Processes and Networked systems Simulation based on the World Dynamics approach
Bond graphs Web based simulation Modelling and simulation of Environmental Resources




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