Agent-based models are simulation models that decompose a complex system into small entities (agnets) with modeling properties and behavior. Contrary to modelling at an aggregate level, agent-based models are focused on the individual level, where a set of discrete agents with well-defined behaviors represents an individual, object or component of the modelled system. Therefore, the individual agent is the explicit, basic unit. The macro-level behaviour of the system emerges thereafter from the interaction of the individual agents and with the environment over time. Agent-based models are used for spatial modelling, offering possibilities to consider topological particularities of interaction and information transfer among agents and/or with the environment. In relation to spatial simulation, agent-based models have been used for example to model natural and social phenomena such as animal behaviour, pedestrian behavior, social insects and biological cells.
this is a new concept
Explain what an agent-based model is and what its key components are
Identify agent-based modelling principles and methodologies
Assess agent-based models for simulating spatio-temporal systems
Completed (GI-N2K)