μsik – A Micro-Kernel for Parallel/Distributed Simulation Systems

We present a novel micro-kernel approach to building parallel/distributed simulation systems. Using this approach, we develop a unified system architecture for incorporating multiple types of simulation processes. The processes hold potential to employ a variety of synchronization mechanisms, and could alter their choice of mechanism dynamically. Supported mechanisms include traditional lookaheadbased conservative and state saving-based optimistic execution approaches, as well as newer mechanisms such as reverse computation-based optimistic execution and aggregation-based event processing, all within a single parsimonious application programming interface. We also present the internal implementation and a preliminary performance evaluation of this interface in μsik, which is an efficient parallel/distributed realization of our micro-kernel architecture in C.