Portable parallel stochastic optimization for the design of aeropropulsion components

This report presents the results of Phase 1 research to develop a methodology for performing large-scale Multi-disciplinary Stochastic Optimization (MSO) for the design of aerospace systems ranging from aeropropulsion components to complete aircraft configurations. The current research recognizes that such design optimization problems are computationally expensive, and require the use of either massively parallel or multiple-processor computers. The methodology also recognizes that many operational and performance parameters are uncertain, and that uncertainty must be considered explicitly to achieve optimum performance and cost. The objective of this Phase 1 research was to initialize the development of an MSO methodology that is portable to a wide variety of hardware platforms, while achieving efficient, large-scale parallelism when multiple processors are available. The first effort in the project was a literature review of available computer hardware, as well as review of portable, parallel programming environments. The first effort was to implement the MSO methodology for a problem using the portable parallel programming language, Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM). The third and final effort was to demonstrate the example on a variety of computers, including a distributed-memory multiprocessor, a distributed-memory network of workstations, and a single-processor workstation. Results indicate the MSO methodology can be well-applied towards large-scale aerospace design problems. Nearly perfect linear speedup was demonstrated for computation of optimization sensitivity coefficients on both a 128-node distributed-memory multiprocessor (the Intel iPSC/860) and a network of workstations (speedups of almost 19 times achieved for 20 workstations). Very high parallel efficiencies (75 percent for 31 processors and 60 percent for 50 processors) were also achieved for computation of aerodynamic influence coefficients on the Intel. Finally, the multi-level parallelization strategy that will be needed for large-scale MSO problems was demonstrated to be highly efficient. The same parallel code instructions were used on both platforms, demonstrating portability. There are many applications for which MSO can be applied, including NASA's High-Speed-Civil Transport, and advanced propulsion systems. The use of MSO will reduce design and development time and testing costs dramatically

Probabilistic structural mechanics research for parallel processing computers

Aerospace structures and spacecraft are a complex assemblage of structural components that are subjected to a variety of complex, cyclic, and transient loading conditions. Significant modeling uncertainties are present in these structures, in addition to the inherent randomness of material properties and loads. To properly account for these uncertainties in evaluating and assessing the reliability of these components and structures, probabilistic structural mechanics (PSM) procedures must be used. Much research has focused on basic theory development and the development of approximate analytic solution methods in random vibrations and structural reliability. Practical application of PSM methods was hampered by their computationally intense nature. Solution of PSM problems requires repeated analyses of structures that are often large, and exhibit nonlinear and/or dynamic response behavior. These methods are all inherently parallel and ideally suited to implementation on parallel processing computers. New hardware architectures and innovative control software and solution methodologies are needed to make solution of large scale PSM problems practical

Development and Utilization of Parallel Generic Algorithms for Scientific Computations

We develop generic parallel algorithms as extensible modules that encapsulate related classes and parallel methods. Extensible modules define common parallel structures, such as meshes, pipelines, or master-server networks in problem-independent manner. Such modules can be extended with sequential domain-specific code in order to derive particular parallel applications. In this paper, we first outline the essence of extensible modules. Then, we focus on a case study of the cellular automaton, a message-parallel generic algorithm from which we derive diverse parallel scientific applications.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/scs_books/1015/thumbnail.jp

Distribution, Approximation and Probabilistic Model Checking

AbstractAPMC is a model checker dedicated to the quantitative verification of fully probabilistic systems against LTL formulas. Using a Monte-Carlo method in order to efficiently approximate the verification of probabilistic specifications, it could be used naturally in a distributed framework. We present here the tool and its distribution scheme, together with extensive performance evaluation, showing the scalability of the method, even on clusters containing 500+ heterogeneous workstations

Integrating Algorithmic and Systemic Load Balancing Strategies in Parallel Scientific Applications

Load imbalance is a major source of performance degradation in parallel scientific applications. Load balancing increases the efficient use of existing resources and improves performance of parallel applications running in distributed environments. At a coarse level of granularity, advances in runtime systems for parallel programs have been proposed in order to control available resources as efficiently as possible by utilizing idle resources and using task migration. At a finer granularity level, advances in algorithmic strategies for dynamically balancing computational loads by data redistribution have been proposed in order to respond to variations in processor performance during the execution of a given parallel application. Algorithmic and systemic load balancing strategies have complementary set of advantages. An integration of these two techniques is possible and it should result in a system, which delivers advantages over each technique used in isolation. This thesis presents a design and implementation of a system that combines an algorithmic fine-grained data parallel load balancing strategy called Fractiling with a systemic coarse-grained task-parallel load balancing system called Hector. It also reports on experimental results of running N-body simulations under this integrated system. The experimental results indicate that a distributed runtime environment, which combines both algorithmic and systemic load balancing strategies, can provide performance advantages with little overhead, underscoring the importance of this approach in large complex scientific applications

QTM: computational package using MPI protocol for quantum trajectories method

The Quantum Trajectories Method (QTM) is one of {the} frequently used methods for studying open quantum systems. { The main idea of this method is {the} evolution of wave functions which {describe the system (as functions of time). Then,} so-called quantum jumps are applied at {a} randomly selected point in time. {The} obtained system state is called as a trajectory. After averaging many single trajectories{,} we obtain the approximation of the behavior of {a} quantum system.} {This fact also allows} us to use parallel computation methods. In the article{,} we discuss the QTM package which is supported by the MPI technology. Using MPI allowed {utilizing} the parallel computing for calculating the trajectories and averaging them -- as the effect of these actions{,} the time {taken by} calculations is shorter. In spite of using the C++ programming language, the presented solution is easy to utilize and does not need any advanced programming techniques. At the same time{,} it offers a higher performance than other packages realizing the QTM. It is especially important in the case of harder computational tasks{,} and the use of MPI allows {improving the} performance of particular problems which can be solved in the field of open quantum systems.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figure

Transient Reward Approximation for Continuous-Time Markov Chains

We are interested in the analysis of very large continuous-time Markov chains (CTMCs) with many distinct rates. Such models arise naturally in the context of reliability analysis, e.g., of computer network performability analysis, of power grids, of computer virus vulnerability, and in the study of crowd dynamics. We use abstraction techniques together with novel algorithms for the computation of bounds on the expected final and accumulated rewards in continuous-time Markov decision processes (CTMDPs). These ingredients are combined in a partly symbolic and partly explicit (symblicit) analysis approach. In particular, we circumvent the use of multi-terminal decision diagrams, because the latter do not work well if facing a large number of different rates. We demonstrate the practical applicability and efficiency of the approach on two case studies.Comment: Accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Reliabilit

Fault Tolerant Adaptive Parallel and Distributed Simulation through Functional Replication

This paper presents FT-GAIA, a software-based fault-tolerant parallel and distributed simulation middleware. FT-GAIA has being designed to reliably handle Parallel And Distributed Simulation (PADS) models, which are needed to properly simulate and analyze complex systems arising in any kind of scientific or engineering field. PADS takes advantage of multiple execution units run in multicore processors, cluster of workstations or HPC systems. However, large computing systems, such as HPC systems that include hundreds of thousands of computing nodes, have to handle frequent failures of some components. To cope with this issue, FT-GAIA transparently replicates simulation entities and distributes them on multiple execution nodes. This allows the simulation to tolerate crash-failures of computing nodes. Moreover, FT-GAIA offers some protection against Byzantine failures, since interaction messages among the simulated entities are replicated as well, so that the receiving entity can identify and discard corrupted messages. Results from an analytical model and from an experimental evaluation show that FT-GAIA provides a high degree of fault tolerance, at the cost of a moderate increase in the computational load of the execution units.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1606.0731