AN APPROACH TO STANDARDIZING THE SIMULATION TO KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM INTERFACE

This paper presents a formal model for the interface between a simulat ion and a knowledge-based manager, and discusses the application of th is model to practical simulation problems. Models of both the simulati on and the knowledge components are presented, and issues of variable selection, time representation and communication costs are addressed. The model is then applied to a case study involving simulation of a sm all flexible manufacturing system. A knowledge-based scheduling system in the C-Language Production System (CLIPS) is interfaced to the FMS simulation written in SIMSCRIPT. In the context of this case study, a set of heuristics for selecting interface variables and for analyzing and reducing communications overhead are presented and discussed.