Distributed Simulation with Multi-Agents for IoT in a Retail Pharmacy Facility

Abstract

Nowadays, internet of things (IoT) technology is considered as one of the key future technologies. The adoption of such technology is receiving quick attention from many industries as competitive pressures inspire them to move forward and invest. As technologies continue to advance, such as IoT, there is a vital need for an approach to identify its viability. This research proposes the adoption of IoT technology and the use of a simulation paradigm to capture the complexity of a system, offer reliable and continuous perceptions into its present and likely future state, and evaluate the economic feasibility of such adoption. A case study of one of the largest pharmacy retail chain is presented. IoT devices are suggested to be used to remotely monitor the failures of a geographically distributed system of refrigeration units. Multi-agents distributed system is proposed to simulate the operational behavior of the refrigerators and calculate the return of investment (ROI) of the proposed IoT implementation.