A framework for analyzing parallel simulation performance

Abstract

The paper provides a framework for studying the complex performance interactions in parallel simulation along three main components: simulation model, parallel simulation strategy/protocol, and execution platform. We propose a methodology for characterizing the potential parallelism of a simulation model based on analytical modeling techniques. A clear understanding of the degree of event parallelism inherent in the simulation problem/model is essential for the simulation practitioners to assess the performance benefits of exploiting parallelism before substantial programming effort is invested in its implementation. Establishing the baseline event parallelism available in a simulation model is crucial to the simulation practitioners for assessing the performance (parallelism) loss that may arise from the parallel synchronization protocol, and the architecture of the parallel execution platform used. We analyze how causality dependency of event affects the performance of simulation model, and determine the potential event parallelism in simulation models.