Abstract

The democratization of simulation software is increasing the number of simulation users by an order of magnitude. Similar dramatic expansions of use of complex technologies have been witnessed in many other technology-driven industries such as the Internet, automobiles, personal computers, navigation systems, music devices, and mobile phones. In each of these cases, the real expansion occurs when the nascent, complex, hard-to-use technology is packaged into a form that is simple-to-use, robust, affordable, and accurate, and made available to everyone. But this turning point is never simple to accomplish and is hard to predict. However, when it does happen, it has always resulted in an explosion of investment and innovation, exposing the power of the underlying technologies to a much broader audience. With simulation, we are in the midst of experiencing that tipping point, driven by market forces that consider the traditional, manual, error-prone, expert-only simulation status quo to be unacceptable. The free-to-join RevolutionInSimulation online community resource (Rev-Sim.org) was launched at the NAFEMS CAASE conference in June 2018. As this 3-year-old community approaches 3,000 global members, with a steadily growing set of industry sponsors (>20) with leading names in the simulation ecosystem, and a growing list of topic areas related to next-generation simulation usage, it is becoming established as a valuable resource for the simulation community, as it strives to better understand and deploy next-generation simulation technologies. Rev-Sim highlights professional resources and a collaborative community to help increase the impact and value of simulation investments through the Democratization of Simulation and simulation automation. Here you’ll have access to success stories, news, articles, whitepapers, blogs, presentations, videos, webinars, best practices and reference materials. Experts have volunteered to be Topic Moderators, curating the resources and authoring blogs on various important next-generation simulation topics such as Automation, Apps, Democratization, HPC, Business Challenges, Digital Twins, Digital Thread and SPDM, and others. You’ll also have one-stop access to simulation specialists, industry organizations, special interest discussion groups, and industry media, along with software and consulting service providers to help you navigate these topics and deploy the new techniques. The author will first present a brief history of simulation’s journey over the last 5 decades and then list the market forces that are driving fundamental changes in how simulation is packaged and used. Then, you will get a tour of the online Revolution In Simulation web portal and its freely-available resources.