Wireless Sensor Networks: Modelling and Simulation

摘要

Although different modeling techniques have been proposed during the last 300 years, the differential equation formalism proposed by Newton and Leibniz has been the tool of choice for modeling and problem solving Differential equations provide a formal mathematical method (sometimes also called an analytical method) for studying the entity of interest. Computational methods based on differential equations could not be easily applied in studying human-made dynamic systems (e.g., traffic controllers, robotic arms, automated factories, production plants, computer networks, VLSI circuits). These systems are usually referred to as discrete event systems because their states do not change continuously but, rather, because of the occurrence of events. This makes them asynchronous, inherently concurrent, and highly nonlinear, rendering their modeling and simulation different from that used in traditional approaches. In order to improve the model definition for this class of systems, a number of techniques were introduced, including Petri Nets, Finite State Machines, min-max algebra, Timed Automata, etc. Banks & Nicol. (2005); Cassandras (1993); Cellier & Kofman. (2006); Fishwick (1995); Law & Kelton (2000); Toffoli & Margolus. (1987).