Model partitioning and multi-level parallelization

Abstract

Effective execution of an agent-based model refers to utilization of hardware resources for improvement of performance or reliability and involves two aspects:

• 1. Model partitioning

  At first, an agent-based model has to be decomposed into partitions with minimum interaction.

• 2. Parallel execution

  Once a model is decomposed into partitions, a simulation engine for executing the model may be parallelized. Ideally, the number of parallel computing threads equals the number of model partitions.

The combination of model partitioning and parallelized execution is illustrated in Figure 8.1. Details on both aspects are presented in the following sections.