The Need for Speed: Understanding Design Factors that Make Multi-core Parallel Simulations Efficient

 

by Shobana Sudhakar & Rohit Jain, Mentor Graphics

Running a parallel simulation may be as easy as flipping on a switch with the progressive and maturing solutions available today, but do people really take full advantage of the technology? It is true that in some scenarios the overhead of communication and synchronization needed for parallel simulation can negate any substantial performance gains. However, there are scenarios where deploying the parallel simulation technology can provide tremendous benefit. A long running simulation that exercises large blocks of a design concurrently and independently is one good example.
Designers need to be aware of the factors that can inhibit the advantages of parallel simulations, even in these best case scenarios; the main factor being inflexibility due to the way designs are modeled today. This article focuses on these factors and is an effort to educate on best design principles and practices to maximize the advantage of simulation with parallel computing. The discussion also extends to the three main fundamental features of parallel simulations, viz., load balancing, concurrency and communication. Designers need to understand how their designs run in simulation with these factors to ensure they get the maximum out of parallel simulations....

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