A virtual reality environment for visualizing discrete event simulation

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology to create 3D visualisation of discrete event simulation. This methodology connects discrete event simulation directly to 3D animation with its novel methods of converting discrete simulation results into animation events to trigger 3D animation. Discrete simulation results are analysed and displayed as a graph structure that reveals all possible sequences of simulation events, and are further converted into animation events for visualisation. In addition, a 3D animation framework is constructed for the visualisation of discrete simulation results. This framework supports the reuse of both the existing 3D animation objects and behaviour components, and allows the rapid development of new 3D animation objects by users with no special knowledge in computer graphics. This methodology has been implemented with the software component technology. Results in an electronics assembly factory are also provided to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach.