Increasing efficiency in the simulation of a dynamic system of objects in 3-D space

This article examines sectoring as a methodology of improving the efficiency of discrete event simulation of autonomous object movement in 3-D space. Efficiency is defined as the ability to reduce the amount of pairwise comparisons needed to completely execute the intended system. Sectoring involves partitioning the simulation trajectory space and allows for a reduction of the number of queries required between objects in order to determine upcoming events. However, the crossing of sector boundaries becomes an additional event to track and compute. A simulation of moving objects in 3-D space was constructed using MODSIM™. This simulation was verified and used to gather significant output data. The results indicated that, within the specific experimental range, sectoring provides up to 52% improvement in simulation efficiency when compared to no sectoring.