Component

Components are the key elements of a simulation. By providing a process definition of the business process in study, components allow modeling the interplay with other simulation components as well as its timing.

Components can be in different lifecycle state. An ACTIVE component has one or more process definitions of which one was activated at some point earlier in time.

If a component has an associated process definition, we can schedule it for execution using activate(). This will also change its state to become active ACTIVE,

An ACTIVE component can become DATA either with a cancel() or by reaching the end of its process definition.

It is very easy to create a DATA components which can be useful to model more passive elements in a model (such as production material).

val component = Component()

Components will interact with each other through a well-defined vocabulary of process interaction methods.

Info

By default, Components will be named automatically, using the pattern [Class Name].[Instance Number] unless a custom name is provided via the name parameter in Component(name="Foo"). Kalasim also supports auto-indexing if a provided component name ends with a dash -, dot . or underscore _. E.g. A first Component("Foo-") will be named Foo-1, a second one Foo-2 and so on.

Process Definition

Although it is possible to create a component directly with val x = Component(), this does not encode any simulation mechanics a there is process definition defining how the x will interact with the simulation environment. So, nearly always we define our simulation entities by extending Component and by providing a process definition which details out the component's life cycle:

Important

The process definition of a component defines its dynamics and interplay with other simulation entities. Writing down the process definition is the key modelling task when using kalasim.

If there is no process definition, a component will stay passive. Techncially, it is refrerred to as a DATA component.

There are 3 supported methods to provide a process definition.

1. Extend `process`

Let's start with the most common method. In order to define an ACTIVE component it is necessary to extend org.kalasim.Component to provide (at least) one sequence generator method, normally called process:

class Car: Component(){
    override fun process() = sequence {
        wait(customerArrived)

        request(driver){
            hold(4, "driving")
        }
    }
}

If we then later say val car = Car(), a component is created, and it is scheduled for execution within kalasim's event loop. The process method is nearly always, but not necessarily a generator method (i.e. it has at least one yield statement), so it contains suspension points where execution can be stalled.

It is also possible to set a time at which the component (car) becomes active, like val car = Car(delay=10). This requires an additional constructor argument to be passed on to Component as in class Car(delay:Number): Component(delay=delay).

Creation and activation are by default combined when creating a new Component instance:

val car1 = Car()
val car2 = Car()
val car3 = Car()

This causes three cars to be created and to be activated, so these instances are scheduled for execution in the simulation's event queue.

Info

In some situations, automatic activation of the process definition may not be needed or desired. If so, even in presence of a process or repeatedProcess method, you can disable the automatic activation (i.e. make it a data component), by specifying Component(process = Component::none).

Normally, any process definition will contain at least one yield statement. By doing so, the component can hand-back control to the simulation engine at defined points when a component needs to wait. Typically, the user must not use yield directly, but rather the provided process interaction methods.

2. Extend `repeatedProcess`

Another very common pattern when writing down process definitions, iteratively executed processes. This could be modelled directly as described above using process. But as shown in the following example, this lacks somewhat lacks conciseness:

class Machine : Component(){
    override fun process() = sequence {
        while(true) {
          wait(hasMaterial)
          hold(7, "drilling")
        }
    }
}

Luckily, this can be expressed more elegantly with repeatedProcess:

class Machine : Component(){
    override fun repeatedProcess() = sequence {
        wait(hasMaterial)
        hold(7, "drilling")
    }
}

3. Process Reference

A component may be initialized to start at another process definition method. This is achieved by passing a reference to this method which must be part of the component's class definition, like val car = Car(process = Car::wash).

It is also possible to prepare multiple process definition, which may become active later by means of an activate() statement:

////CraneProcess.kts
import org.kalasim.*

class Crane(
    process: GeneratorFunRef? = Component::process
) : Component(process = Crane::load) {
    fun unload() = sequence<Component> {
        // hold, request, wait ...
    }

    fun load() = sequence<Component> {
        // hold, request, wait ...
    }
}

createSimulation {
    val crane1 = Crane() // load will be activated be default

    val crane2 = Crane(process = Crane::load) // force unloading at start

    val crane3 = Crane(process = Crane::unload) // force unloading at start
    crane3.activate(process = Crane::load) // activate other process
}

Effectively, creation and start of crane1 and crane2 is the same.

Inlining Subprocesses

To run/consume/inline another process definition, we can useyieldAll(subProcess()) to inline subProcess() defined for the same component. This allows to inline the entire process definition in a blocking manner. Here's an example how to do so:

//import org.kalasim.*
import kotlin.time.Duration.Companion.minutes

createSimulation {
    enableComponentLogger()

    object : Component() {

        override fun process() = sequence {
            hold(1.minute)
            // to consume the sub-process we use yieldAll
            yieldAll(subProcess())
            // it will continue here after the sub-process has been consumed
            hold(2.minutes)
        }

        fun subProcess(): Sequence<Component> = sequence {
            hold(3.minutes)
        }
    }

    run()
}

Toggling processes

It's a very effective tool in discrete simulation, to toggle the process definition of a component at runtime. Using activate() we can toggle processes very effectively in a simulation model. There are 3 ways to do so

From with a component's process defintion
Within another component process defintion
Outside of any process definition.

The following example illustrates these examples as well as process inlining:

////Restaurant.kts
import org.kalasim.*
import kotlin.time.Duration.Companion.hours
import kotlin.time.Duration.Companion.minutes

data class Recipe(val name: String) {
    override fun toString() = name
}

class Customer : Component() {
    val restaurant  = get<Restaurant>()

    override fun process() = sequence<Component> {
        hold(3.hours + 15.minutes) // arrive somewhen

        restaurant.activate(process=Restaurant::cookSomething, Recipe("pasta"))

        hold(30.minutes,"drink something while waiting for food")

        // wait for the food preparation to complete
        join(restaurant)

        //order something else
        restaurant.activate(process=Restaurant::specialOffer)
    }
}

class Restaurant : Component() {

    override fun process(): Sequence<Component> = sequence {
        hold(2.hours, "opening restaurant")
    }

    fun cookSomething(recipe: Recipe) = sequence {
        hold(10.minutes, "preparing $recipe")

        log("dinner's ready! I am serving $recipe today")
    }

    fun specialOffer(): Sequence<Component> = sequence {
        hold(5.minutes, "selecting dish of the day")

        // We can activate another process from within a process definition
        // Provide a recipe, set the `spicy` flag and delay activation by 5 minutes
        activate(::cookSomethingSpecial, Recipe("cake"), true, delay = 5.minutes)
    }

    fun cookSomethingSpecial(recipe: Recipe, spicy: Boolean) = sequence {
        hold(20.minutes, "preparing $recipe ...")

        yieldAll(prepareDesert()) // inline sub-process

        log("special dinner's ready!")
        log("serving ${if(spicy) "spicy" else ""} $recipe and some desert")
    }

    // another small process without any arguments
    fun prepareDesert() = sequence {
        hold(15.minutes, "making a pie")
    }
}

createSimulation {
    enableComponentLogger()

    // instantiate the simulation components
    val restaurant = dependency { Restaurant() }

    // create customer
    Customer()

    // run the model
    run()

    // activate process with arguments from outside a process definition
    restaurant.activate(
        process = Restaurant::cookSomething,
        processArgument = Recipe("lasagne")
    )

    // and run again
    run()
}

Notably, we can provide process arguments here in a typesafe manner.

Lifecycle

A simulation component is always in one of the following states modelled by org.kalasim.ComponentState:

CURRENT - The component's process is currently being executed by the event queue
SCHEDULED - The component is scheduled for future execution
PASSIVE - The component is idle
REQUESTING - The component is waiting for a resource requirement to be met
WAITING - The component is waiting for a state predicate to be met
STANDBY - The component was put on standby
INTERRUPTED - The component was interrupted
DATA - The component is non of the active states above. Components without a process definition are always in this state.

A component's status is managed via the property component.componentState, and is automatically tracked with a level monitor named component.statusTimeline.

The statusMonitor can be consumed in different ways. It possible to check how long a component has been in a particular state with

val passiveDuration = component.statusMonitor[ComponentState.PASSIVE]

Also, it is possible to print a histogram with all the statuses a component has been in with

component.statusMonitor.printHistogram()

Accumulated times in a particular state can be obtained with summed() and be printed to console or displayed with the selected graphics backend

val timeInEachState = component.statusMonitor.summed()

timeInEachState.printConsole()
timeInEachState.display()

Process Interaction

The scheme below shows how interaction relate to component state transitions:

from/to	data	current	scheduled	passive	requesting	waiting	standby	interrupted
data		activate¹	activate
current	process end		yield hold	yield passivate	yield request	yield wait	yield standby
.	yield cancel		yield activate
scheduled	cancel	next event	hold	passivate	request	wait	standby	interrupt
.			activate
passive	cancel	activate¹	activate		request	wait	standby	interrupt
.			hold²
requesting	cancel	claim honor	activate³	passivate	request	wait	standby	interrupt
.		time out			activate⁴
waiting	cancel	wait honor	activate⁵	passivate	wait	wait	standby	interrupt
.		timeout				activate⁶
standby	cancel	next event	activate	passivate	request	wait		interrupt
interrupted	cancel		resume⁷	resume⁷	resume⁷	resume⁷	resume⁷	interrupt⁸
.			activate	passivate	request	wait	standby

Via scheduled()
Not recommended
With keepRequest = false (default)
With keepRequest = true. This allows to set a new time out
With keepWait = false (default)
With keepWait = true. This allows to set a new timeout
State at time of interrupt
Increases the interruptLevel

hold

This method is utilized to suspend a component for a specific duration of simulation time. It changes that the state of a - usually current - component to scheduled. By invoking the hold method, control is returned from the process definition back to the simulation engine. After the specified hold duration, the engine will resume the execution of the process definition. This becomes a crucial method in kalasim, as it dictates the temporal flow of the overall process.

Here's a basic example illustrating this process:

object : Component("Something") {
    override fun process() = sequence {
        hold(10.minutes, description = "some action")
        // ^^ This is telling kalasim to suspend execution of this process 
        // for 10 simulation minutes

        // ... 10 minutes later ...
        // After these 10 minutes, it will continue execution of the process
        hold(1.minutes, description = "some other action ")
    }
}

Supported parameters in hold() are

duration - The duration for which the component should be held.
description - An optional description for the hold operation.
until - The simulation time until which the component should be held. If provided, the component will be held until the specified simulation time.
priority - The priority of the hold operation. A higher priority value indicates a higher priority. Defaults to NORMAL.
urgent - A flag indicating whether the hold operation is urgent. If set to true, the component will be scheduled with the highest possible priority. Defaults to false.

Either duration or until must be specified when calling hold() to indicate the intended delay.

State Contract

The state contract when calling hold() is as follows

If the component is CURRENT, it will suspend execution internally, and the component becomes scheduled for the specified time
If the component to be held is passive, the component becomes scheduled for the specified time.
If the component to be held is scheduled, the component will be rescheduled for the specified time, thus essentially the same as activate.
If the component to be held is standby, the component becomes scheduled for the specified time.
If the component to be activated is requesting, the request will be terminated, the attribute failed set and the component will become scheduled. It is recommended to use the more versatile activate method.
If the component to be activated is waiting, the wait will be terminated, the attribute failed set and the component will become scheduled. It is recommended to use the more versatile activate method.
If the component is interrupted, the component will be activated at the specified time.

activate

activate() will schedule execution of a process definition at the specified time. If no time is specified, execution will be scheduled for the current simulation time. If you do not specify a process, the current process will be scheduled for continuation. If a process argument is provided, the process will be started (or restarted if it is equal to the currently active process).

Car() // default to process=Component::process or Component::repeatedProcess   
Car(process=Component::none) // no process, which effectivly makes the car DATA     

val car = Car(process=Car::driving) // start car in driving mode  

// stop driving (if still ongoing) and activate refilling process
car1.activate(process=Car::refilling)

// activate defined process if set, otherwise error
car0.activate()

Parameters

Supported parameters in activate()

process - The name of the process to be started. If set to None, the process will not be changed. If the component is a data component, the generator function process will be used as the default process. Optionally type safe arguments can be provided to the generator function via processArgument and otherProcessArgument
processArgument - The argument to be passed to the process.
at - The schedule time. If omitted, no delay is used.
delay - The delay before starting the process. It uses a Duration object to specify the delay amount. The default value is Duration.ZERO.
priority - The priority level of the activation. It uses the Priority enumeration with options HIGH, NORMAL, and LOW. The default value is NORMAL.
urgent - Indicates whether the activation is urgent or not. If set to true, the activation will be treated as urgent. The default value is false.
keepRequest - Indicates whether to keep the activation request even after the process is started. If set to true, the activation request will be kept. The default value is false.
keepWait - Indicates whether to keep waiting for the process to complete before returning. If set to true, the activation will not return until the process is complete. The default value is false.

State Contract

The state contract when calling hold() is as follows

If the component to be activated is DATA, unless provided with process the default Component::process will be scheduled at the specified time.
If the component to be activated is PASSIVE, the component will be activated at the specified time.
If the component to be activated is SCHEDULED, the component will get a new scheduled time.
If the component to be activated is REQUESTING, the request will be terminated, the attribute failed set, and the component will become scheduled. If keep_request=True is specified, only the fail_at will be updated, and the component will stay requesting.
If the component to be activated is WAITING, the wait will be terminated, the attribute failed set, and the component will become scheduled. If keepWait=true is specified, only the failAt will be updated, and the component will stay waiting.
If the component to be activated is STANDBY, the component will get a new scheduled time and become scheduled.
If the component is INTERRUPTED, the component will be activated at the specified time.

Misc

Important

It is not possible to activate() the CURRENT component without providing a process argument. kalasim will throw an error in this situation. The effect of a "self"-activate would be that the component becomes scheduled, thus this is essentially equivalent to the preferred hold method, so please use hold instead. The error is a safe-guard mechanism to prevent the user from unintentionally rescheduling the current component again.

In situations where the current process need to be restarted, we can use activate yield(activate(process = Component::process)) which will bypass the internal requirement that the activated component must not be CURRENT.

Although not very common, it is also possible to activate a component at a certain time or with a specified delay:

ship1.activate(at=100)
ship2.activate(delay=50.minutes)

Note

It is possible to use activate() outside of a process definition, e.g. to toggle processes after some time

sim.run(10)
car.activate(process=Car::repair)
sim.run(10)

However, in most situations this is better modelled within a process definition.

We can use activate to toggle the active process of a component

passivate

Passivate is the way to make a - usually current - component passive. This is essentially the same as scheduling for time=inf.

If the component to be passivated is CURRENT, the component becomes passive, and it will suspend execution internally.
If the component to be passivated is passive, the component remains passive.
If the component to be passivated is scheduled, the component becomes passive.
If the component to be held is standby, the component becomes passive.
If the component to be activated is requesting, the request will be terminated, the attribute failed set and the component becomes passive. It is recommended to use the more versatile activate method.
If the component to be activated is waiting, the wait will be terminated, the attribute failed set and the component becomes passive. It is recommended to use the more versatile activate method.
If the component is interrupted, the component becomes passive.

cancel

Cancel has the effect that the component becomes a data component.

If the component to be cancelled is CURRENT, it will suspend execution internally.
If the component to be cancelled is passive, scheduled, interrupted or standby, the component becomes a data component.
If the component to be cancelled is requesting, the request will be terminated, the attribute failed set, and the component becomes a data component.
If the component to be cancelled is waiting, the wait will be terminated, the attribute failed set and the component becomes a data component.

Examples

Bank Office with Reneging

standby

Standby has the effect that the component will be triggered on the next simulation event.

If the component is CURRENT, it will suspend execution internally
Although theoretically possible, it is not recommended to use standby for non current components. If needed to do so, the pattern to provide the correct receiver is with(nonCurrent){ standby() }
Not allowed for DATA components or main

Examples

Bank Office with Standby

request

Request has the effect that the component will check whether the requested quantity from a resource is available. It is possible to check for multiple availability of a certain quantity from several resources.

Instead of checking for all of number of resources, it is also possible to check for any of a number of resources, by setting the oneOf parameter to true.

By default, there is no limit on the time to wait for the resource(s) to become available. However, it is possible to set a time with failAt at which the condition has to be met. If that failed, the component becomes CURRENT at the given point of time. This is also known as reneging.

If the component is canceled, activated, passivated, interrupted or held the failed flag will be set as well.

If the component is CURRENT, it will suspend execution internally
Although theoretically possible it is not recommended to use request for non current components. If needed to do so, the pattern to provide the correct receiver is with(nonCurrent){ request(r) }

A component can also actively renege a pending request by calling release(resource). See Bank3ClerksRenegingResources for an example (as well as Bank3ClerksReneging Bank3ClerksRenegingState for other supported reneging modes).

wait

Wait has the effect that the component will check whether the value of a state meets a given condition. It is possible to check for multiple states. By default, there is no limit on the time to wait for the condition(s) to be met. However, it is possible to set a time with failAt at which the condition has to be met. If that failed, the component becomes CURRENT at the given point of time. The code should then check whether the wait had failed. That can be checked with the Component.failed property.

If the component is canceled, activated, passivated, interrupted or held the failed flag will be set as well.

If the component is CURRENT, it will suspend execution internally
Although theoretically possible it is not recommended to use wait for non current components. If needed to do so, the pattern to provide the correct receiver is with(nonCurrent){ wait() }

Examples

Gas Station

Supported parameters in wait

state - A state variable
waitFor - The state value to wait for
description - The description of the wait request.
triggerPriority - The queue priority to be used along with a state change trigger
failAt - If the request is not honored before fail_at, the request will be cancelled and the parameter failed will be set. If not specified, the request will not time out.
failDelay - If the request is not honored before now + failDelay, the request will be cancelled and the parameter failed will be set. if not specified, the request will not time out.
failPriority - Schedule priority of the fail event. If a component has the same time on the event list, this component is sorted according to the priority. An event with a higher priority will be scheduled first.

interrupt

With interrupt components that are not current or data can be temporarily be interrupted. Once a resume is called for the component, the component will continue (for scheduled with the remaining time, for waiting or requesting possibly with the remaining fail_at duration).

Examples

Machine Parts

Usage of process interaction methods within a function or method

There is a way to put process interaction statement in another function or method. This requires a slightly different way than just calling the method.

As an example, let's assume that we want a method that holds a component for a number of minutes and that the time unit is actually seconds. So we need a method to wait 60 times the given parameter.

We start with a not so elegant solution:

object : Component() {
    override fun process() = sequence<Component>{
        hold(5.0)
        hold(5.0)
    }
}

Now we just add a method holdMinutes. Direct calling holdMinutes is not possible. Instead, we have to define an extension function on SequenceScope<Component>:

object : Component() {
    override fun process() = sequence {
        holdMinutes()
        holdMinutes()
    }

    private suspend fun SequenceScope<Component>.holdMinutes() {
        hold(5.0)
    }
}

All process interaction statements including passivate, request and wait can be used that way!

So remember if the method contains a yield statement (technically speaking iss a generator method), it should be called with from an extension function.

Component Generator

The creation of components is a key function of most simulations. To facilitate component creation, a ComponentGenerator can be used to create components according to a given inter arrival time (or distribution).

ComponentGenerator(iat = exponential(lambda, rg)) {
    Customer()
}

The following arguments are supported when setting up a component generator

Inter arrival duration iat or distribution between history/generations.
A builder named builder of type Environment.(counter: Int) -> T allows to specify how the objects of type T are generated. Thereby, counter can be used to name the objects accordingly.

There are also additional arguments available to support more custom/advanced use-cases:

startAt - time where the generator starts its operation. If omitted, now is used.
forceStart - If false (default), the first component will be generated at time = startAt + iat(). If true, the first component will be generated at startAt.
until - time up to which components should be generated. If omitted, no end.
total - (maximum) number of components to be generated.
name - Name of the component. If the name ends with a period (.), auto serializing will be applied.
priority - If a component has the same time on the event list, this component is scheduled according to the priority. An event with a higher priority will be scheduled first.
keepHistory - If true, i will store a reference of all generated components which can be queried with history.
koin - The dependency resolution context to be used to resolve the org.kalasim.Environment

Note, that the entities being created are not required to extend org.kalasim.Component, but can be in fact arbitrary types.

Usage:

////ComponentGeneratorExamples.kts
import org.kalasim.*
import kotlin.time.Duration.Companion.days
import kotlin.time.Duration.Companion.hours
import kotlin.time.Duration.Companion.minutes


createSimulation {

    // example 1
    // we can schedule with a probabilist inter-arrival distribution
    data class Customer(val id: Int)

    ComponentGenerator(uniform(5.minutes, 2.hours)) { customerNo ->
        Customer(customerNo)
    }

    // we can also schedule with a fixed rate
    // here we create 3 strings with fixed inter-arrival duration
    ComponentGenerator(3.minutes, total = 3) { it }

    // example 2
    // we define a component with simplistic process definition
    class Car() : Component() {
        override fun process() = sequence {
            hold(3.hours, description = "driving")
        }
    }

    ComponentGenerator(exponential(3.minutes), until = now + 3.days) {
        Car() // when creating a component it will be automatically scheduled next
    }

    // example 3 no-longer recommend:
    // inter-arrival distribution without duration unit
    ComponentGenerator(uniform(3, 4)) { Customer(it) }
}

More examples

Component

Process Definition

1. Extend process

2. Extend repeatedProcess

3. Process Reference

Inlining Subprocesses

Toggling processes

Lifecycle

Process Interaction

hold

State Contract

activate

Parameters

State Contract

Misc

passivate

cancel

standby

request

wait

interrupt

Usage of process interaction methods within a function or method

Component Generator

1. Extend `process`

2. Extend `repeatedProcess`