WHAT'S VIRTUALLY POSSIBLE?

This paper continues a sequence of papers discussing futuristic simulation needs and capabilities. These papers focus upon complex systems that evolve by the concurrent execution of processing tasks under the guidance of sophisticated control structures. This paper first provides a detailed state description for such systems from both the perspective of the entities that are being processed in the system and the controllers that manage the task execution. The interrelationship between these two perspectives is next explored. The paper demonstrates the entity-based perspective mainly focuses upon the events that have or should occur in the physical world. The controllers manage when these events will occur by characterizing the feasible alternatives that exist for executing their assigned tasks within a virtual world of future responses.