Development and Evaluation of Parallel and Distributed Simulation with Web services

Parallel and distributed simulation is concerned with the efficient execution of large-scale discrete event simulation models on multiprocessors and distributed platforms. After the development of World Wide Web (WWW), many efforts in parallel and distributed simulation have been made for modeling, particularly building simulation languages and creating model libraries that can be assembled and executed over WWW, and for analysis, particularly developing simulation optimization algorithms for parallel and distributed experimentation. These efforts have thus far produced mixed results. However, the recent advent of XML and web services technology provides enhanced opportunities for web-based distributed simulation. Especially, web services as a distributed information technology possess powerful capabilities for scalable interoperation of heterogeneous systems. This paper aims to develop and evaluate parallel and distributed simulation using the web services technology for efficient simulation execution. In particular, a prototype framework is implemented using web services for a simple shop floor simulation, where we focus on web-based simulation optimization through the distribution of simulation replications across different servers. The development of parallel and distributed simulation using web services will help to solve large-scale problems efficiently and guarantee interoperability among heterogeneous networked systems. Key-Words: Web services, Parallel and distributed simulation, OCBA, Simulation optimization.