Is there a way to record when (and how often) Transporters get within a certain distance of each other?

Question

I have an AnyLogic simulation model using trucks and forklifts as agents (Transporter type), and among other things would like to identify each time one of them becomes within a certain distance of another one (example within 5 meters). I will record this count as a variable within the main space of the model. I am using path-guided navigation. I have seen a method "agentsInRange" which will probably be able to do the trick, but am not sure where to call this from. I assume I should be able to use the AL functionality of "Min distance to obstacle" (TransporterFleet) and "Collision detection timeout" (TransporterControl)? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Since there don't seem to be pre-built functions for this, afaik, the easiest way is to:

1. add an int variable to your transporter agent type counter
2. add an event to your transporter type checkCollision that triggers every second or so
3. in the event, loop across the entire population of transporters and count the number that are closer than X meters (use distanceTo(otherTransporter) and write your own custom code)
4. add that number to counter

Note that this might be very inefficient computationally as it is quite brute-force. But might be good enough :)