Activity cycle diagram

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Illustrative activity cycle diagram Activity cycle diagram.png
Illustrative activity cycle diagram

An activity cycle diagram (ACD) is a graphical modeling tool used to depict interactions among objects within a system. [1] It is commonly used in the field of discrete event simulation, following the activity-based modeling paradigm.

Contents

This approach models how system components move between different states over time—most commonly "active" and "dead"—focusing on their life cycles. For example, in a hospital simulation, a patient may alternate between waiting (dead state) and receiving treatment (active state). In contrast, a process-oriented or event-based model would define the patient's journey as a sequence of steps—such as "check-in," "wait," "treatment," and "discharge"—emphasizing the flow of control rather than the states of system components.

Activity-based modeling is often considered a natural and intuitive way to represent system behavior over time.

Origin

The ACD was developed in the 1960s, building on the flow diagram method introduced by K. D. Tocher. [2] It was created to support activity-based modeling in simulation and has since been applied across various domains.

Characteristics

An activity cycle diagram focuses on the life cycle of system components, distinguishing between a "dead" state (idle, not engaged in any activity) and an "active" state (engaged in a process or function). [3] These diagrams are used to model how entities in a system move between these states over time.

Implementation

In activity-based modeling, [4] system dynamics are represented as a network model of the logical and temporal relationships among activities. This makes the ACD well-suited for use with the activity scanning method of simulation execution, which involves continuously checking the system to determine which activities are ready to occur. [5]

Sources

  1. ↑ Kang, Donghun; Choi, Byoung K. (2011-02-01). "The extended activity cycle diagram and its generality" . Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory. 19 (2): 785–800. doi:10.1016/j.simpat.2010.11.004. ISSN   1569-190X.
  2. ↑ Choi, Byoung Kyu; Kang, DongHun (2013-08-07). Modeling and Simulation of Discrete Event Systems. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   978-1-118-73285-4.
  3. ↑ Greasley, Andrew (2019-10-21). Simulating Business Processes for Descriptive, Predictive, and Prescriptive Analytics. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN   978-1-5474-0069-0.
  4. ↑ Shi, Jingsheng (1997). "A conceptual activity cycle-based simulation modeling method" (PDF). Proceedings of the 29th conference on Winter simulation - WSC '97. Atlanta, Georgia, United States: ACM Press. pp. 1127–1133. doi:10.1145/268437.268749. ISBN   978-0-7803-4278-1. S2CID   16392452.
  5. ↑ Page Jr., Ernest H. (September 1994). Simulation modeling methodology: principles and etiology of decision support (PDF) (PhD thesis). Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.


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