Anylogic ‘how to’ questions

Question

I am using Anylogic for a simulation-modeling class, and I am not anylogic or coding smart. My last and only coding class was MatLab based about 16 yrs ago. I have a few questions about how to implement modeling concepts in a discrete model with anylogic.

1. How can I add/inject agents directly into a queue downstream from a source? I have tried adding an additional source to use the “Calls of inject() function,” but I am not sure how to implement it after selecting it ( example: what do I do after selecting the Calls of inject() function). I have the new source feeding directly into the queue where I want the inject.

2. How can I set the release of an agent to a defined schedule instead of a rate? Currently, I have my working model set to interarrival time. But I would like to set the agent release to a defined schedule. (example: agent-1 released at 120 seconds, agent-2 released at 150 seconds, agent-3 released at 270 seconds)

Any help would be greatly appreciated, especially if it can be written in a “explain to me like I am 5yrs old” format.

Answer 1

Question 1: If you have a source connected directly to a queue, then when you call source.inject() an agent will be created at the source block and go to the queue. If you have 1 source with multiple possible destinations, then you will have to use select output blocks and some criteria to go from the source to the desired queue.

Since you mentioned not being a strong programmer, this probably wouldn't be for you, but I often find myself creating agents via add_population and then just adding them to an ArrayList until I am ready to pull them into the DES flow. Really, there are near infinite ways to control agent flow within AnyLogic.

Question 2: Option a: Arrivals by "Arrival Table in Database" You can link an AnyLogic database table to Excel, and then the source block will just have an agent arrive based on that table.

Option b: Arrival Schedule - you could set this up manually within the development environment or load your schedule from a database. I prefer option a over option b given your brief description.

Option c: Read in data to variable and then write code to release based on next arrival time. 1,000s of ways to do this, but one example could be a list of doubles (your arrival times), set an event to delay until next arrival, call inject function, remove that arrival from the list. I think option a would be best for you, but given that AnyLogic allows you to add java code, there are no limits to how sophisticated you could make your arrival logic.