Parallel and Distributed Simulation Systems

Rating:
Summary: #1 Source for Parallel and Distributed Simulation Techniques
Review: Parallel and Distributed Simulation Systems, by Richard Fujimoto, brings together all of the leading techniques for designing and operating parallel and distributed simulations. This is the first book to bring this material in a single source. Previously, simulation developers had to research a library to journal and conference articles to identify, master, and select techniques appropriate to their problem.

Fujimoto divides the material into three sections. The first introduces the reader to the real world problems that have given rise to the need for PADS techniques. He also includes an introduction to the field of discrete event simulation, laying the necessary groundwork for the reader to understand the rest of the book.

In the second section the book begins to describe many of the techniques that are used to accomplish parallel or distributed operations for discrete event simulations. These are presented very clearly and most readers will grasp them immediately. In this section, the reader gains an appreciation for the difficulty involved in creating parallel simulations that maintain the causality of events within the entire simulation. Distributing the application across multiple computers has the potential to greatly increase its execution speed, but must do so without jeopardizing the causal accuracy of the simulation. Topics covered include conservative synchronization, time warp, deadlock avoidance, lookahead, repeatability, global virtual time, scheduling, and performance. Fujimoto also includes a description of the Georgia Tech Time Warp system in which he and others have implemented many of these techniques.

Finally, the third section describes the application of PADS techniques to distributed virtual environments. Fujimoto focuses distributed military training systems and points toward the potential for applying these techniques in entertainment applications. This section is motivated by a description of the evolution of distributed military training using protocols like simulator networking (SIMNET), distributed interactive simulation (DIS), aggregate level simulation protocol (ALSP), and the more recent high level architecture (HLA). Fujimoto takes great care to describe how PADS techniques are used within software implementations of the HLA. Topics include distributed interactive simulation, dead reckoning, the high level architecture, network technologies, communication protocols, data distribution management, and message ordering.

The book is an essential tool for those creating parallel or distributed simulation applications or conducting research in the field. It provides and excellent level of detail and sufficient explanation to allow others to implement the techniques. It is available directly from Wiley-Interscience and from most of the Web-based bookstores.

Rating:
Summary: #1 Source for Parallel and Distributed Simulation Techniques
Review: Parallel and Distributed Simulation Systems, by Richard Fujimoto, brings together all of the leading techniques for designing and operating parallel and distributed simulations. This is the first book to bring this material in a single source. Previously, simulation developers had to research a library to journal and conference articles to identify, master, and select techniques appropriate to their problem.

Fujimoto divides the material into three sections. The first introduces the reader to the real world problems that have given rise to the need for PADS techniques. He also includes an introduction to the field of discrete event simulation, laying the necessary groundwork for the reader to understand the rest of the book.

In the second section the book begins to describe many of the techniques that are used to accomplish parallel or distributed operations for discrete event simulations. These are presented very clearly and most readers will grasp them immediately. In this section, the reader gains an appreciation for the difficulty involved in creating parallel simulations that maintain the causality of events within the entire simulation. Distributing the application across multiple computers has the potential to greatly increase its execution speed, but must do so without jeopardizing the causal accuracy of the simulation. Topics covered include conservative synchronization, time warp, deadlock avoidance, lookahead, repeatability, global virtual time, scheduling, and performance. Fujimoto also includes a description of the Georgia Tech Time Warp system in which he and others have implemented many of these techniques.

Finally, the third section describes the application of PADS techniques to distributed virtual environments. Fujimoto focuses distributed military training systems and points toward the potential for applying these techniques in entertainment applications. This section is motivated by a description of the evolution of distributed military training using protocols like simulator networking (SIMNET), distributed interactive simulation (DIS), aggregate level simulation protocol (ALSP), and the more recent high level architecture (HLA). Fujimoto takes great care to describe how PADS techniques are used within software implementations of the HLA. Topics include distributed interactive simulation, dead reckoning, the high level architecture, network technologies, communication protocols, data distribution management, and message ordering.

The book is an essential tool for those creating parallel or distributed simulation applications or conducting research in the field. It provides and excellent level of detail and sufficient explanation to allow others to implement the techniques. It is available directly from Wiley-Interscience and from most of the Web-based bookstores.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book as a primer to distributed computing
Review: This book is a very readable introduction to parallel and distributed computing. It presents concepts well, and offers enough examples to allow one to make sure they have a firm grasp on what is being presented. It is NOT a textbook. It is not full of code, or detailed descriptions of exactly how to implement a parallel/distributed system in a given situation. Those already expert in the field or those seeking low-level detail and code should look elsewhere. I recommend this book to everyone else.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book as a primer to distributed computing
Review: This book is a very readable introduction to parallel and distributed computing. It presents concepts well, and offers enough examples to allow one to make sure they have a firm grasp on what is being presented. It is NOT a textbook. It is not full of code, or detailed descriptions of exactly how to implement a parallel/distributed system in a given situation. Those already expert in the field or those seeking low-level detail and code should look elsewhere. I recommend this book to everyone else.