How-to Guides

Problem-oriented

How-to Guides

Contents

• Preparation

  Preliminary operations for using Alchemist: installation, setup

  • Alchemist stand-alone

    The recommended way to run the simulator and fetch all the required modules.
  • Alchemist via Gradle

    The recommended way to run the simulator and fetch all the required modules.
• Simulation

  Guides on how to create simulation environments, configure node behaviour, and control the simulation details

  • Create reusable variables

    Define reusable pieces of information and compute upon them, prepare for the execution of simulation batches.
  • Ensure repeatability

    Control randomness, ensuring reproducibility and replicability of experiments.
  • Cognitive Agents

    Agents with realistic human behavior.
  • Create a network

    Define how nodes should be connected with each other.
  • Create Layers

    Define data layers that live in the environment
  • Create rich environments

    How to create complex environments (obstacles, and so on)

    • Find paths indoors

      How to navigate the environment, especially indoors.
    • Maps and GPS traces

      How to simulate using maps and GPS traces.
    • Simulate indoor

      How to create indoor environments based on planimetries.
    • Simulate physical interactions among pedestrians

      Physical interaction between nodes
  • Deploy Nodes

    How to place nodes within Alchemist environments

    • (Irregular) Grids

      Deployment of nodes in (possibly irregular) grids.
    • Nodes inside shapes

      Deployment of nodes randomly inside arbitrary shapes.
    • GPS Traces

      Deployment of nodes on map-based environments using GPS data.
    • Graphs

      Deployment of nodes into arbitrary graphs.
  • Export data

    Select which data the simulator should output, in which format, and where.
  • Monitor and Control Simulations through GraphQL

    Monitor and Control a Simulation through a set of GraphQL APIs.
  • Monitoring Simulations through Custom Output Monitors

    Create custom monitors to track simulation progression and interact with standard hooks.
  • Program Nodes

    How to define the behavior of nodes

    • Move nodes on maps

      How to move node around in geospatial environments.
    • Node contents

      Definition of the initial content of nodes.
  • Smart cameras and drones

    Simulate robots with a field of view.
• Execution

  Execution of multiple simulations, locally or in a distributed environment

  • Customize the Swing GUI

    Customize the look of your simulation.
  • Define the termination criteria

    Decide when the simulator should stop and consider the simulation concluded.
  • MultiVeStA

    How to integrate MultiVesta in Alchemist
  • Parameter Sweeping with simulation batches

    Execute multiple instances of a simulation with different parameters
  • Simulation Engine Configuration

    Available simulation engine configurations.
• Workarounds

  Pre-concocted solutions to well-known issues

  • Graphical Glitches in Swing

    Known issues with Swing and OpenGL acceleration, especially with legacy AMD/ATi drivers.
  • Memory leaks under Linux

    Known issue of some Java Virtual Machine implementations when requested to use more than 64GB of RAM
• Experiment-specific extensions

  One-time changes or additions to the simulator behavior
• Development

  How to contribute to the project, hence achieving eternal glory

  • Developer's guide

    How to contribute
  • Import Alchemist in an IDE

    The recommended way to get and import the Alchemist project in an IDE
  • Build and run the QA

    How to locally build and test the simulator