A dEVS Simulation Algorithm Based on Shared Memory for Enhancing Performance

Abstract

The Discrete EVent System Specification (DEVS) formalism provides a unified method to define any discrete-event system accurately. As the complexity of the system under study increases, the necessity of simulation engines with higher performance rises. In this research, we present a chained DEVS simulator, a DEVS-compliant, function-oriented simulation algorithm that exploits shared memory patterns to improve the performance of sequential and parallel simulations. We also illustrate the positive impact of this novel approach executing a set of DEVStone synthetic benchmarks and comparing a state-of-the-art simulation engine with an updated version that implements the chained algorithm. Results show that the chained simulator introduces up to 40% less synchronization overhead than the traditional simulation approach.