Simulation of BOID type behaviours in Unity environment

The study describes and characterises BOID (bird-oid object) type behaviours, consisting of joint movement of a cluster of objects with the same properties. Authors presented Reynolds’ model, which takes into account 3 rules: separation, alignment and consistency, as well as the control procedures of a cluster of objects suggested by Parker, considering such variables as wind, aim, speed, order and the occurring forces. The test method was to conduct simulation experiments with different configurations of coefficients of the forces controlling the model. For each simulation the time of moving from the start point to the end point was measured. A hundred simulations were carried out for each individual group of coefficients, and then, using the described statistics methods, generalised time values were determined. This allowed a comparison of the results and made a conclusions. The numerical simulations carried out were implemented in Unity environment. Calculating the time required for travelling the same route was done by changing the value of the separation force, cohesion, alignment and avoidance. From the values obtained, it can be seen that the biggest influence on the increase of the time of moving BOID objects, is increasing value of the coefficient of separation and levelling forces. Unity environment is well suited to conduct such simulations, since it allows to obtain both numerical values and process visualization as a 3D image. In addition, Unity allows to create individual scripts to manage simulation in individual IDEs, and consists reliable documentation, which simplifies their writing.