EMOD parameter reference

The configurable parameters described in this reference section determine the behavior of a particular simulation and interventions. The parameter descriptions are intended to guide you in correctly configuring simulations to match your disease scenario of interest.

These parameters include three major groups: parameters for the demographics file, parameters for the configuration file, and parameters for the campaign file.

If you would rather use a text file for parameter reference than this web documentation, you can also generate a schema with the EMOD executable (Eradication.exe) that defines all configuration and campaign parameters that can be used in a simulation, including names, data types, defaults, ranges, and short descriptions.

JSON formatting overview

All of these parameters are contained in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) formatted files. JSON is a data format that is human-readable and easy for software to read and generate. It can be created and edited using a simple text editor.

JSON has two basic structures: a collection of key-value pairs or an ordered list of values (an array). These structures are within a JSON object, which is enclosed in a set of braces. You will notice that each of these files begins with a left brace ({) and ends with a right brace (}).

A value can be a string, number, Boolean, array, or an object. The campaign and data input files often use nested objects and arrays. See www.json.org for more information on JSON.

A few important details to call out when creating JSON files:

  • Add a comma after every key-value pair or array except for the last key-value pair in an array or object.

  • The keys (parameters) are case-sensitive. For example, “NodeID” is not the same as “NodeId”.

  • Decimals require a 0 (zero) before the decimal point.

  • EMOD does not support Booleans (“True”, “False”). Instead, EMOD use the integer 1 for “True” and 0 for “False”.

  • Every opening curly brace or square bracket ({ or [) requires a corresponding closing brace or bracket (} or ]).

The following is an example of a JSON formatted file.

{
    "A_Complex_Key": {
        "An_Array_with_a_Nested_Object_Value": [
            {
                "A_Simple_Key": "Value",
                "A_Simple_Array": [ "Value1", "Value2" ],
                "An_Array_with_Number_Values": [ 0.1, 0.2 ],
                "A_Nested_Object": {
                    "Another_Simple_Key": "Value",
                    "Nested_Arrays": [
                        [ 10, 0.1 ],
                        [ 0.1, 1 ]
                    ]
                }
            }
        ]
    }
}