Calibrating Simulation Models with Sparse Data
Counterfeit Supply Chains During Covid-19
Isabelle M. van Schilt (TU Delft - Policy Analysis)
Jan Kwakkel (TU Delft - Policy Analysis)
Jelte P. Mense (Universiteit Utrecht)
Alexander Verbraeck (TU Delft - Policy Analysis)
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Abstract
COVID-19 related crimes like counterfeit Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) involve complex supply chains with partly unobservable behavior and sparse data, making it challenging to construct a reliable simulation model. Model calibration can help with this, as it is the process of tuning and estimating the model parameters with observed data of the system. A subset of model calibration techniques seems to be able to deal with sparse data in other fields: Genetic Algorithms and Bayesian Inference. However, it is unknown how these techniques perform when accurately calibrating simulation models with sparse data. This research analyzes the quality-of-fit of these two model calibration techniques for a counterfeit PPE simulation model given an increasing degree of data sparseness. The results demonstrate that these techniques are suitable for calibrating a linear supply chain model with randomly missing values. Further research should focus on other techniques, larger set of models, and structural uncertainty.