An efficient dynamic load balancing method for simulation of variable structure systems

Chen Yang, Bo Hu Li, Xudong Chai, Peng Chi, Lei Ren

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Multi-core or many-core machines become increasingly pervasive. Parallel simulation can achieve high efficiency by employing multi-threaded parallel execution of models and fast inter-thread communication between models. However, load imbalance among cores degrades performance of the simulation system greatly. This is especially true for simulation of variable structure systems, due to dynamic addition or removal of models. An efficient load balancing method under multi-cores or many-core environments has been proposed, based on our threaded parallel simulator-Ivy [1]. The method employs shared models and shared interaction structure in one OS process to achieve real dynamic migration of loads among cores, with little intervention to the simulation execution, while the copying and transferring of model state are avoid. The proposed metrics for load migration take variation of the system composition into consideration and can be applicable to both dedicated and non-dedicated multi-core machines. The metrics can reflect the computation load of a fine-grained model by ratio of the overall CPU time (consumed by events processing) to virtual advance time, while communication cost is properly considered. The experiment results show that our method can improve efficiency of both common simulation and variable structure simulation evidently.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 8th EUROSIM Congress on Modelling and Simulation, EUROSIM 2013
EditorsDavid Al-Dabass, Richard Cant, Richard Zobel, Khalid Al-Begain, Richard Cant, Alessandra Orsoni, Khalid Al-Begain, Alessandra Orsoni, David Al-Dabass
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages525-531
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9780769550732
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 Jan 2015
Externally publishedYes
Event8th EUROSIM Congress on Modelling and Simulation, EUROSIM 2013 - Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
Duration: 10 Sept 201313 Sept 2013

Publication series

NameProceedings - 8th EUROSIM Congress on Modelling and Simulation, EUROSIM 2013

Conference

Conference8th EUROSIM Congress on Modelling and Simulation, EUROSIM 2013
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityCardiff, Wales
Period10/09/1313/09/13

Keywords

  • complex system
  • conservative synchronization
  • discrete event simulation
  • dynamic load balance
  • multi-core
  • multi-threaded
  • variable structure system

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