Asymmetric Cell-DEVS models with the Cadmium simulator

Cellular models provide a natural approach for describing the behavior, dynamics, and structure of natural systems with spatial features. The classic Cell-DEVS formalism allows us to define discrete-event cellular models as a lattice of cells in which cell states are updated asynchronously over a continuous time base with explicit timing delays. However, it cannot define scenarios with irregular cell shapes. Here we present asymmetric Cell-DEVS, a formalism that supports the definition of cellular models with irregular topologies and complex relationships between cells, allowing us to model more realistic scenarios. We also include a prototype implementation of this formalism using the Cadmium simulator and illustrate the use of this formalism and tools by presenting different cellular models combined with geographical data to provide realistic results.