Modeling & Simulation

Hardware Platforms Simulation Fundamentals

Outline
Hardware Platforms
Parallel computers Distributed computers

Simulation Fundamentals
State Time Time flow mechanisms

Parallel and Distributed Computers

Parallel computers (tightly coupled processors)
Shared memory multiprocessors Distributed memory multicomputers

Distributed computers (loosely coupled processors)

Networked workstations
Parallel Computers Physical extent Processors Comm. Network Machine room Homogeneous Custom switch Distributed Computers Building, city, global Often heterogeneous Commercial LAN / WAN hundreds of microseconds to seconds

Comm. Latency A few to tens of (small messages) microseconds

Shared Memory Multiprocessors

Examples: Sun Enterprise; SGI Origin CPU cache CPU cache interconnection network

. . .

CPU cache

memory

...

memory

I/O devices

programming model: shared variables; synchronization via locks

{ shared int i; L Lock (L) i = i + 1; Unlock (L) } { shared int i, L Lock (L) i = i + 1; Unlock (L) }

Processor 1

Processor 2

Distributed Memory Multicomputers

Examples: IBM SP, Intel Paragon CPU cache memory CPU cache memory

. . .
communications controller communications controller Interconnection network programming model: no shared variables; message passing
Processor 1 {int i; Send (2, &i, sizeof(int)) } Processor 2 {int j; Receive (&j, sizeof(int)); }

Outline
Hardware Platforms
Parallel computers Distributed computers

Simulation Fundamentals
State Time Time flow mechanisms

Simulation Fundamentals
A computer simulation is a computer program that models the behavior of a physical system over time. Program variables (state variables) represent the current state of the physical system Simulation program modifies state variables to model the evolution of the physical system over time.

Time
physical system: the actual or imagined system being modeled simulation: a system that emulates the behavior of a physical system
main() { ... double clock; ... }

physical system

simulation

physical time: time in the physical system

Noon, December 31, 1999 to noon January 1, 2000

simulation time: representation of physical time within the simulation

floating point values in interval [0.0, 24.0]

wallclock time: time during the execution of the simulation, usually output from a hardware clock
9:00 to 9:15 AM on September 10, 1999

Simulation Time
Simulation time is defined as a totally ordered set of values where each value represents an instant of time in the physical system being modeled. For any two values of simulation time T1 representing instant P1, and T2 representing P2: Correct ordering of time instants
If T1 < T2, then P1 occurs before P2 9.0 represents 9 PM, 10.5 represents 10:30 PM

Correct representation of time durations

T2 - T1 = k (P2 - P1) for some constant k 1.0 in simulation time represents 1 hour of physical time

Paced vs. Unpaced Execution

Modes of execution As-fast-as-possible execution (unpaced): no fixed relationship necessarily exists between advances in simulation time and advances in wallclock time Real-time execution (paced): each advance in simulation time is paced to occur in synchrony with an equivalent advance in wallclock time Scaled real-time execution (paced): each advance in simulation time is paced to occur in synchrony with S * an equivalent advance in wallclock time (e.g., 2x wallclock time) Simulation Time = W2S(W) = T0 + S * (W - W0) W = wallclock time; S = scale factor W0 (T0) = wallclock (simulation) time at start of simulation
(assume simulation and wallclock time use same time units)

Simulation Taxonomy
computer simulation discrete models event driven timestepped continuous models

Continuous time simulation

State changes occur continuously across time Typically, behavior described by differential equations

Discrete time simulation

State changes only occur at discrete time instants Time stepped: time advances by fixed time increments Event stepped: time advances occur with irregular increments

Time Stepped vs. Event Stepped

Goal: compute state of system over simulation time
state variables state variables simulation time

simulation time

time stepped execution

event driven execution

Time Stepped Execution (Paced)

While (simulation not completed) {

Wait Until (W2S(wallclock time) current simulation time) Compute state of simulation at end of this time step Advance simulation time to next time step

Summary
Hardware Platforms
Tightly coupled multiprocessors: fast communication Networked workstations: larger message latencies

Important to distinguish among simulation time, wallclock time, and time in the physical system Paced execution (e.g., immersive virtual environments) vs. unpaced execution (e.g., simulations to analyze systems) Continuous and discrete simulation use different execution paradigms, time advance mechanisms
Time stepped vs. event stepped Here, focus on discrete event simulations