Live Simulations

The next exciting step for large-scaled, data-driven, agent-based simulations is to make them live. In this article we describe what is meant by a live simulation, how this concept goes beyond the state of the art, why this would be transformative in multiple domains, and a path for achieving this vision. We discuss the major challenges to building live simulations covering aspects such as (i) data integration and unification, (ii) time scales and spatial resolutions, and (iii) simulation model scalability covering both computational tractability and sparse data, all with an eye on progress on various fronts that can be integrated towards realizing this vision.