SimAnalyzer: automated description of groups dynamics in agent-based simulations

International audienceMulti agent based simulations (MABS) have been successfully exploited to model complex systems in different areas. Nevertheless a pitfall of MABS is that their complexity increases with the number of agents and the number of different types of behaviours considered in the model. For average and large systems it is impossible to validate the trajectories of single agents in a simulation. The classical validation approaches, where only global indicators are evaluated, are too simplistic to give enough confidence on the simulation's model. It is then necessary to introduce intermediate levels of validation. In this paper we propose the use of data clustering and automated characterization of clusters in order to build, describe and follow the evolution of groups of agents in simulations. The description of clusters is used to generate profiles of agents that are reintroduced in simulations in order to study the stability of the descriptions and structures of clusters over several simulations and decide their capability to describe the modelled phenomena. These tools provides the modeller with an intermediate point of view on the evolution of the model. They are flexible enough to be applied both offline and online, and we illustrate it with both a NetLogo and a CSV-simulation log example