Comparison of Agent-based Simulation Frameworks for Unmanned Aerial Transportation Applications

Recently, the civil applications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in aerial transportation are gaining more interest. Due to operational costs, safety concerns and legal regulations, agent-based simulation frameworks are preferably used to implement models and conduct tests. With the abundance of such frameworks in the civil applications of UAVs, this paper introduces a methodology to compare the most widely used frameworks. The methodology is based on the ISO software quality model, and uses a weighted sum scoring system to give points to the frameworks under study. The proposed criteria in the methodology consider agent-based simulation features and adapt specific features of unmanned aerial transportation. Preliminary comparison results and recommendations are provided and discussed. (C) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.