Comparison of agent based distillation movement algorithms

Agent based distillations are a new class of low-resolution simulations, used principally to explore Army operations. The Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation is examining these simulations to support traditional operations analyses. Agent movement within two simulations, called EINSTein and MANA, is based on an attraction–repulsion weighting system and a numerical penalty function. Andrew Gill and Dion Grieger analyzed these movement algorithms to reveal examples of unexpected behaviour and deduce their underlying causes, suggesting a mismatch between the developer's concept and its implementation. An enhancement based on relative distances, a cumulative functional and simulated annealing was then proposed and tested.