About this Book

Modelling and simulation based on discrete event systems is used routinely in research and industrial applications. An advanced, but now well established technique is modelling and simulation with integrated parameter optimisation to improve system performance. In using these established approaches model structure is considered to be fixed as the relationships between model elements are defined during model development. As model performance is optimised it may be necessary to redesign the model structure, normally carried out manually by an analyst. With increasingly complex and reconfigurable discrete event systems and therefore with an increasing number of possible structure variants 
the potential benefit of automatic model structure optimisation becomes significant.
The research reported in this thesis details a new approach providing automatic reconfiguration and optimisation of both model structure and model parameters. This is achieved through a combination of simulation, optimisation and model management methods.

About the Author
Olaf Hagendorf studied Electrical Engineering with emphasis Computer Engineering at Universities Wismar and Rostock. After finishing his study in 1997 he set up a company, among other specialised in automation system and machine control development for the photo-finishing industries. His company dealt with orders mainly in Middle and Northern Europe. Parallel to his business he started with a PhD project at Liverpool John Moores University, which he finished successfully in 2009. Currently he is a researcher at University Wismar.