Research Assistants: F. Knop, E. Mascarenhas, R. Pasquini
Sponsors: ARO, ONR
ParaSol (Parallel Simulation Object Library) is an active-transaction based distributed simulation system that enables process-oriented simulations. In contrast to standard event-based distributed simulation tools, ParaSol presents a powerful process-orientation (supported by the Ariadne and Arachne threads systems) in which transactions are free to migrate between hosts. Its unique features include a modular architecture with a kernel supporting optimistic and adaptive simulation protocols, and an interface that supports domain-specific application layering. Also offered is support for time-stepped simulations, execution on heterogeneous mixes of shared and distributed memory processors, and user-guided performance tuning. It is being designed to enable load balancing through dynamic process migration. The system is currently interfaced with the PVM and Conch communication environments, but is readily adaptable to other communication environments.