Multi-agent based simulations using fast multipole method: application to large scale simulations of flocking dynamical systems.

This article introduces a novel approach to increase the performances of multi-agent based simulations. We focus on a particular kind of multi-agent based simulation where a collection of interacting autonomous situated entities evolve in a situated environment. Our approach combines the fast multipole method coming from computational physics with agent-based microscopic simulations. The aim is to speed up the execution of a multi-agent based simulation while controlling the precision of the associated approximation. This approach may be considered as the first step of a larger effort aiming at designing a generic kernel to support efficient large-scale multi-agent based simulations. This approach is illustrated in this paper by the simulation of large scale flocking dynamical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]