AN OPEN-SOURCE POPULATION INDIFFERENCE ZONE-BASED ALGORITHM FOR SIMULATION OPTIMIZATION

Abstract

This paper proposes an open-source algorithm for simulation optimization. The intent is to permit many who use a variety of simulation software codes to be able to apply the proposed methods using an MS Excel-Visual Basic interface. First, I will begin by discussing simulation optimization and its usefulness. I will then discuss different methods that are commonly used for simulation optimization. Next, I will present the proposed Population Indifference Zone (PIZ) algorithm and related soft-ware code. I will discuss the properties of the proposed method and present the code that runs the Visual Basic program. I will then discuss the functionality of the Population Indifference Zone method with examples of problems to which it might be applied. I conclude with a description of topics for future research.