Parallel simulation techniques for telecommunication network modelling

In this thesis, we consider the application of parallel simulation to the performance modelling of telecommunication networks. A largely automated approach was first explored using a parallelizing compiler to speed up the simulation of simple models of circuit-switched networks. This yielded reasonable results for relatively little effort compared with other approaches. However, more complex simulation models of packet- and cell-based telecommunication networks, requiring the use of discrete event techniques, need an alternative approach. A critical review of parallel discrete event simulation indicated that a distributed model components approach using conservative or optimistic synchronization would be worth exploring. Experiments were therefore conducted using simulation models of queuing networks and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks to explore the potential speed-up possible using this approach. Specifically, it is shown that these techniques can be used successfully to speed-up the execution of useful telecommunication network simulations. A detailed investigation has demonstrated that conservative synchronization performs very well for applications with good look ahead properties and sufficient message traffic density and, given such properties, will significantly outperform optimistic synchronization. Optimistic synchronization, however, gives reasonable speed-up for models with a wider range of such properties and can be optimized for speed-up and memory usage at run time. Thus, it is confirmed as being more generally applicable particularly as model development is somewhat easier than for conservative synchronization. This has to be balanced against the more difficult task of developing and debugging an optimistic synchronization kernel and the application models

Time warp on a shared memory multiprocessor

Journal ArticleA variation of the Time Warp parallel discrete event simulation mechanism is presented that is optimized for execution on a shared memory multiprocessor. In particular, the direct cancellation mechanism is proposed that eliminates the need for anti-messages and provides an efficient mechanism for cancelling erroneous computations. The mechanism thereby eliminates many of the overheads associated with conventional, message-based implementations of Time Warp. More importantly, this mechanism effects rapid repairs of the parallel computation when an error is discovered. Initial performance measurements of an implementation of the mechanism executing on a BBN Butterfly? multiprocessor are presented. These measurements indicate that the mechanism achieves good performance, particularly for many workloads where conservative clock synchronization algorithms perform poorly. Speedups as high as 56.8 using 64 processors were obtained. However, our studies also indicate that state saving overheads represent a significant stumbling block for many parallel simulations using Time Warp

A Scalable GVT Estimation Algorithm for PDES: Using Lower Bound of Event-Bulk-Time

Global Virtual Time computation of Parallel Discrete Event Simulation is crucial for conducting fossil collection and detecting the termination of simulation. The triggering condition of GVT computation in typical approaches is generally based on the wall-clock time or logical time intervals. However, the GVT value depends on the timestamps of events rather than the wall-clock time or logical time intervals. Therefore, it is difficult for the existing approaches to select appropriate time intervals to compute the GVT value. In this study, we propose a scalable GVT estimation algorithm based on Lower Bound of Event-Bulk-Time, which triggers the computation of the GVT value according to the number of processed events. In order to calculate the number of transient messages, our algorithm employs Event-Bulk to record the messages sent and received by Logical Processes. To eliminate the performance bottleneck, we adopt an overlapping computation approach to distribute the workload of GVT computation to all worker-threads. We compare our algorithm with the fast asynchronous GVT algorithm using PHOLD benchmark on the shared memory machine. Experimental results indicate that our algorithm has a light overhead and shows higher speedup and accuracy of GVT computation than the fast asynchronous GVT algorithm

An empirical evaluation of techniques for parallel simulation of message passing networks

209 p.[EN]In the field of computer design, simulation is an essential tool to validate and evaluate architectural proposals. Conventional simulation techniques, designed for their use in sequential computers, are too slow if the system to simulate is large or complex. The aim of this work is to search for techniques to accelerate simulations exploiting the parallelism available in current, commercial multicomputers, and to use these techniques to study a model of a message router. This router has been designed to constitute the communication infrastructure of a (hypothetical) massively parallel computer. Three parallel simulation techniques have been considered: synchronous, asynchronous-conservative and asynchronous-optimistic. These algorithms have been implemented in three multicomputers: a transputer-based Supernode, an Intel Paragon and a network of workstations. The influence that factors such as the characteristics of the simulated models, the organization of the simulators and the characteristics of the target multicomputers have in the performance of the simulations has been measured and characterized. It is concluded that optimistic parallel simulation techniques are not suitable for the considered kind of models, although they may provide good performance in other environments. A network of workstations is not the right platform for our experiments, because the communication demands of the parallel simulators surpass the abilities of local area networks—the granularity is too fine. Synchronous and conservative parallel simulation techniques perform very well in the Supernode and in the Paragon, specially if the model to simulate is complex or large—precisely the worst case for traditional, sequential simulators. This way, studies previously considered as unrealizable, due to their exceedingly high computational cost, can be performed in reasonable times. Additionally, the spectrum of possibilities of using multicomputers can be broadened to execute more than numeric applications.[ES]En el ámbito del diseño de computadores, la simulación es una herramienta imprescindible para la validación y evaluación de cualquier propuesta arquitectónica. Las ténicas convencionales de simulación, diseñadas para su utilización en computadores secuenciales, son demasiado lentas si el sistema a simular es grande o complejo. El objetivo de esta tesis es buscar técnicas para acelerar estas simulaciones, aprovechando el paralelismo disponible en multicomputadores comerciales, y usar esas técnicas para el estudio de un modelo de encaminador de mensajes. Este encaminador está diseñado para formar infraestructura de comunicaciones de un hipotético computador masivamente paralelo. En este trabajo se consideran tres técnicas de simulación paralela: síncrona, asíncrona-conservadora y asíncrona-optimista. Estos algoritmos se han implementado en tres multicomputadores: un Supernode basado en Transputers, un Intel Paragon y una red de estaciones de trabajo. Se caracteriza la influencia que tienen en las prestaciones de los simuladores aspectos tales como los parámetros del modelo simulado, la organización del simulador y las características del multicomputador utilizado. Se concluye que las técnicas de simulación paralela optimista no resultan adecuadas para trabajar con el modelo considerado, aunque pueden ofrecer un buen rendimiento en otros entornos. La red de estaciones de trabajo no resulta una plataforma apropiada para estas simulaciones, ya que una red local no reúne condiciones para la ejecución de aplicaciones paralelas de grano fino. Las técnicas de simulación paralela síncrona y conservadora dan muy buenos resultados en el Supernode y en el Paragon, especialmente si el modelo a simular es complejo o grande—precisamente el peor caso para los algoritmos secuenciales. De esta forma, estudios previamente considerados inviables, por ser demasiado costosos computacionalmente, pueden realizarse en tiempos razonables. Además, se amplía el espectro de posibilidades de los multicomputadores, utilizándolos para algo más que aplicaciones numéricas.Este trabajo ha sido parcialmente subvencionado por la Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología, bajo contrato TIC95-037

On improving the performance of optimistic distributed simulations

This report investigates means of improving the performance of optimistic distributed simulations without affecting the simulation accuracy. We argue that existing clustering algorithms are not adequate for application in distributed simulations, and outline some characteristics of an ideal algorithm that could be applied in this field. This report is structured as follows. We start by introducing the area of distributed simulation. Following a comparison of the dominant protocols used in distributed simulation, we elaborate on the current approaches of improving the simulation performance, using computation efficient techniques, exploiting the hardware configuration of processors, optimizations that can be derived from the simulation scenario, etc. We introduce the core characteristics of clustering approaches and argue that these cannot be applied in real-life distributed simulation problems. We present a typical distributed simulation setting and elaborate on the reasons that existing clustering approaches are not expected to improve the performance of a distributed simulation. We introduce a prototype distributed simulation platform that has been developed in the scope of this research, focusing on the area of emergency response and specifically building evacuation. We continue by outlining our current work on this issue, and finally, we end this report by outlining next actions which could be made in this field

The treatment of time in distributed simulation

Simulation is one of the most important tools to analyse, design, and operate complex processes and systems. Simulation allows us to make a 'trial and error' in order to understand a system and describe a problem. Therefore, it is of great interest to use simulation easily and practically. The advent of parallel processors and languages help simulation studies. A recent simulation trend is distributed simulation which may be called discrete- event simulation, because distributed simulation has a great potential for the speed-up. This thesis will survey discrete-event simulation and examine one particular algorithm. It will first survey simulation in general and secondly, distributed simulation. Distributed simulation has broadly two mechanisms: conservative and optimistic. The treatment of time in these mechanisms is different, we will look into both mechanisms. Finally, we will examine the conservative mechanism on a network of transputers using Occam. We will conclude with the result of the experiments and the perspective of distributed simulation

Optimization of communication intensive applications on HPC networks

Communication is a necessary but overhead inducing component of parallel programming. Its impact on application design and performance is due to several related aspects of a parallel job execution: network topology, routing protocol, suitability of algorithm being used to the network, job placement, etc. This thesis is aimed at developing an understanding of how communication plays out on networks of high performance computing systems and exploring methods that can be used to improve communication performance of large scale applications. Broadly speaking, three topics have been studied in detail in this thesis. The first of these topics is task mapping and job placement on practical installations of torus and dragonfly networks. Next, use of supervised learning algorithms for conducting diagnostic studies of how communication evolves on networks is explored. Finally, efficacy of packet-level simulations for prediction-based studies of communication performance on different networks using different network parameters is analyzed. The primary contribution of this thesis is development of scalable diagnostic and prediction methods that can assist in the process of network designing, adapting applications to future systems, and optimizing execution of applications on existing systems. These meth- ods include a supervised learning approach, a functional modeling tool (called Damselfly), and a PDES-based packet level simulator (called TraceR), all of which are described in this thesis

Parallel Processing for VLSI CAD Applications a Tutorial

Coordinated Science Laboratory was formerly known as Control Systems LaboratorySemiconductor Research CorporationAuthor's name appears in front matter as Prithviraj Banerje

The virtual time machine

Journal ArticleExisting multiprocessors and multicomputers require the programmer or compiler to perform data dependence analysis at compile time. We propose a parallel computer that performs this task at runtime. In particular, the Virtual Time Machine (VTM) detects violations of data dependence constraints as they occur, and automatically recovers from them. A sophisticated memory system that is addressed using both a spatial and a temporal coordinate is used to efficiently implement this mechanism. Initially targeted for discrete event simulation applications, many of the ideas used in the machine architecture have direct application in the more general realm of parallel computation. The long term goal of this work is to develop a general purpose parallel computer that will support a wide range of parallel programming paradigms. This paper outlines the motivations behind the V TM architecture, the underlying computation model, a proposed implementation, and initial performance results. A recurring theme that pervades the entire paper is our contention that existing shared memory and message-base machines do not pay adequate attention to the dimension of time. We argue that this architectural deficiency is the underlying reason behind many difficult problems in parallel computation today

Distributed Simulation of High-Level Algebraic Petri Nets

In the field of Petri nets, simulation is an essential tool to validate and evaluate models. Conventional simulation techniques, designed for their use in sequential computers, are too slow if the system to simulate is large or complex. The aim of this work is to search for techniques to accelerate simulations exploiting the parallelism available in current, commercial multicomputers, and to use these techniques to study a class of Petri nets called high-level algebraic nets. These nets exploit the rich theory of algebraic specifications for high-level Petri nets: Petri nets gain a great deal of modelling power by representing dynamically changing items as structured tokens whereas algebraic specifications turned out to be an adequate and flexible instrument for handling structured items. In this work we focus on ECATNets (Extended Concurrent Algebraic Term Nets) whose most distinctive feature is their semantics which is defined in terms of rewriting logic. Nevertheless, ECATNets have two drawbacks: the occultation of the aspect of time and a bad exploitation of the parallelism inherent in the models. Three distributed simulation techniques have been considered: asynchronous conservative, asynchronous optimistic and synchronous. These algorithms have been implemented in a multicomputer environment: a network of workstations. The influence that factors such as the characteristics of the simulated models, the organisation of the simulators and the characteristics of the target multicomputer have in the performance of the simulations have been measured and characterised. It is concluded that synchronous distributed simulation techniques are not suitable for the considered kind of models, although they may provide good performance in other environments. Conservative and optimistic distributed simulation techniques perform well, specially if the model to simulate is complex or large - precisely the worst case for traditional, sequential simulators. This way, studies previously considered as unrealisable, due to their exceedingly high computational cost, can be performed in reasonable times. Additionally, the spectrum of possibilities of using multicomputers can be broadened to execute more than numeric applications