Ranking and selection for steady-state simulation: Procedures and perspectives

W e present and evaluate three ranking-and-selection procedures for use in steady-state simulation experiments when the goal is to find which among a finite number of alternative systems has the largest or smallest long-run average performance. All three procedures extend existing methods for independent and identically normally distributed observations to general stationary output processes, and all procedures are sequential. We also provide our thoughts about the evaluation of simulation design and analysis procedures, and illustrate these concepts in our evaluation of the new procedures.