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On Deriving a Relationship Between Complexity and Fidelity in Rule Based Multi-agent Systems

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Intelligent and Evolutionary Systems

Part of the book series: Proceedings in Adaptation, Learning and Optimization ((PALO,volume 8))

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Abstract

Understanding the relationship between model complexity and fidelity in simulations is particularly important as increased complexity is one of the major cost drivers of any simulation. In this work we explore the relationship between complexity and fidelity in simple rule based multi-agent systems by employing a multi-objective evolutionary framework in two problem domains: (1) Simulation of conversational group dynamics (2) Simulation of sheepdog herding dynamics. Firstly, a new complexity measure is introduced to characterise complexity of the multi-agent systems. Thereafter the interplay between complexity and fidelity is analysed and the relationship is derived empirically by fitting the obtained data into functions that can describe the relationship in a compact and meaningful manner. This empirical study will be useful to develop theoretical understandings of the complexity and fidelity trade-off in multi-agent based simulations and the approach may be generalised to other simulation types.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The repel from the dog rule has two different implementations based on the parameter choices and these two implementations are mutually exclusive in a given simulation.

  2. 2.

    Fidelity values show minor variations between the runs due to different seeds fed into the starting configuration.

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Correspondence to Erandi Lakshika .

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Lakshika, E., Barlow, M. (2017). On Deriving a Relationship Between Complexity and Fidelity in Rule Based Multi-agent Systems. In: Leu, G., Singh, H., Elsayed, S. (eds) Intelligent and Evolutionary Systems. Proceedings in Adaptation, Learning and Optimization, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49049-6_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49049-6_16

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