Organization detection for dynamic load balancing in individual-based simulations

Issue title: Special Issue on Nature inspired systems for parallel, asynchronous and decentralised environments

Guest editors: Enda Ridgex, Edward Curryy, Daniel Kudenkox and Dimitar Kazakovx

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Bertelle, Cyrille | Dutot, Antoine | Guinand, Frédéric | Olivier, Damien

Affiliations: Université du Havre, 25 rue Philippe Lebon, BP 1123, 76063 Le Havre Cedex, France. Tel.: +33 (0) 2 3274 4373; Fax: +33 (0) 2 3274 4314; E-mail: antoine.dutot@univ-lehavre.fr | [x] Department of Computer Science, The University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK | [y] Department of Information Technology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

Abstract: Large-scale individual-based simulations can benefit a lot from high performance computing environments. The benefit that can be hopped for depends greatly on a good load distribution among the processing resources together with the minimization of the communication overhead. However, minimizing both idle time and communication overhead requires the search for a trade-off. Inspired by complex systems, the approach described in this paper aims at minimizing the volume of data exchanged over the network between tasks of a distributed application, while balancing the load between available computing ressources. The method lies on the trail-laying trail-following paradigm used in algorithms based on artificial ants.

Keywords: Complex systems, self-organization, artificial ants, dynamic graph, community structures, dynamic load balancing, individual-based model, ecological simulations

DOI: 10.3233/MGS-2007-3109

Journal: Multiagent and Grid Systems, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 141-163, 2007