The APOSTLE simulation language: granularity control and performance data

Abstract

A simulation-oriented language can significantly enhance the usability of Parallel Discrete Event Simulation (PDES) by hiding the complexities of the synchronization protocol used to ensure that events are processed in the correct order. The higher-level interface presented to the user by such a language also allows optimizations to be performed that are difficult and cumbersome with current parallel simulators, such as granularity control. APOSTLE is a new high-level simulation-oriented language for PDES, and in this paper we report that the APOSTLE granularity control mechanism reduced simulation run-times by as much as 80%. We also report that APOSTLE achieved a parallel speed-up of around 9 on 16 processors relative to its optimized sequential implementation and a parallel speed-up of around 6 on 16 processors relative to MODSIM II. Overall, we believe that the widespread success of PDES can only be achieved using a simulation-oriented language, and that APOSTLE has made a significant contribution towards this goal.