Controllling Simulation Experiment Design for Agent-Based Models Using Tree Representation of Parameter Space

An important aspect of the simulation modelling process is sensitivity analysis. In this process, agent-based simulations often require analysis of structurally different parameter specifications - the parameters can be represented as objects and the object-oriented simulation configuration leads to nesting of simulation parameters. The nested parameters are naturally represented as a tree rather than a flat structure. The standard tools supporting multi-agent simulations only allow only the representation of the parameter space as a Cartesian product of possible parameter values. Consequently, their application for the required tree representation is limited. In this paper an approach to tree parameter space representation is introduced with an XML-based language. Furthermore, we propose a set of tools that allows one to manage parameterization of the simulation experiment independently of the simulation model.