Like regular entities, resource entities can be generated by an Entity Generator block. The Name field in the EntityType tab in the Block Properties dialog box for an Entity Generator block includes the Default (for regular entities) and DefaultResourceEntity entity types that are defined by Simulation Studio, in addition to entity types that are defined by the user for the current simulation model. The resource state of all new resource entities is Functional. The default ResourceUnits value is 1.0, but it can be changed to any nonnegative value.

You can define new types of resource entities by using the Entity Types dialog box that is associated with each model. All user-created entity types appear in the Name list on the EntityType tab in the Block Properties dialog box for the Entity Generator block. For more information about entity types, see Chapter 8: Entities.

Resource entities can also be created by the Resource Pool and Release blocks as a result of splitting other resource entities. Sometimes it is convenient to create a small number of resource entities, each with a large ResourceUnits attribute value, and store these resource entities in a Resource Pool block with the Merge/split resource units among resource entities of same types option selected. When a request for resource units is made, the Resource Pool block can split resource units that are held in a resource entity into smaller units and assign them to a new resource entity of the same type.

Similarly, a Release block can split units from a resource entity and allocate the split units to a newly created resource entity (of the same type) that is then released. For more information about merging and splitting of resources, see the section Merging and Splitting Resource Entities.

Resource entities can also be cloned by using the Clone block. The Clone block clones the attributes from the original resource entity, but it ignores other run-time information, such as the resource state and seize or unseize status that is set by the resource management blocks.

Note that using the Entity Generator and Clone blocks to create resource entities affects the total number of resource units, but using the Resource Pool and Release block to do so does not.