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The increasing availability of real-time data collected from dynamic systems brings opportunities for simulation models to be calibrated online for improving the accuracy of simulation-based studies. Systematical methods are needed for assimilating real-time measurement data into simulation models. This paper presents a particle filter-based data assimilation method to support online model calibration in discrete event simulation. A joint state-parameter estimation problem is defined, and a particle filter-based data assimilation algorithm is presented. The developed method is applied to a discrete event simulation of a one-way traffic control system. Experiments results demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed method for calibrating simulation models’ parameters in real time and for improving data assimilation results. 

This Innovative Practice Work-In-Progress paper presents a collaborative virtual computer lab (CVCL) environment to support collaborative learning in cloud-based virtual computer labs. With advances of cloud computing and virtualization technologies, a new paradigm of virtual computer labs has emerged, where students carry out labs on virtualized resources remotely through the Internet. Virtual computer labs bring advantages, such as anywhere, anytime, on-demand access of specialized software and hardware. However, with current implementations, it also makes it difficult for students to collaborate, due to the fact that students are assigned separated virtual working spaces in a remote-accessing environment and there is a lack of support for sharing and collaboration. To address this issue, we develop a CVCL environment that allows students to reserve virtual computers labs with multiple participants and support remote real-time collaboration among the participants during a lab. The CVCL environment will implement several well-defined collaborative lab models, including shared remote collaboration, virtual study room, and virtual tutoring center. This paper describes the overall architecture and main features of the CVCL environment and shows preliminary results.