Open Research Problems: System Dynamics, Complex Systems

CASTRO, RODRIGO

Theory of Modeling and Simulation 3rd. Edition

Academic Press/Elsevier Science

Lugar: London; Año: 2019; p. 641 - 658

In this final chapter we use the developments in Systems Dynamics, a well-known M&S methodology, to expose challenges to the theory presented in this book posed by global systems modeling. We first lay the groundwork by relating concepts of Systems Dynamics to those of systems theory and DEVS. Our aim is to give readers of the book a window into the universe of open questions that the theoryM&S of may help to address.In TMS76 the DYNAMO simulation language was introduced to illustrate continuous system modelingwithin general systems theory. DYNAMO was for many years the standard language to encode theSystem Dynamics formalism and its models. Since then it has formed a broad community of SystemDynamics users, mainly in the social sciences. In this edition we return to the relationship betweenthe System Dynamics modeling paradigm and system-theoretic based modeling and simulation. Sincethe concepts, tools, and models of both communities have greatly matured, the time is ripe to offer ataste of the synergy that could arise by bringing the two methodologies together. The spirit remains thesame, though: to understand how to convert complex networks of interconnected models into a formcompatible with the prototypical simulation procedures developed in this book. The following aims tobriefly overview some promising directions for future research.