Deadlock properties in discrete simulation systems

Deadlock is a situation when a set of entities, holding some resource(s), all request access to resource(s) held by other entities in the same set. Due to the stochastic nature of simulation and a lack of information of the chronology of events a priori, predicting deadlocks in simulation is a difficult task. In this paper, we present a graph theoretic model to capture the deadlock characteristics, and some deadlock properties of a general discrete simulation system. Finally, we suggest deadlock detection and resolution as an appropriate strategy in simulation systems