Parallel simulation of high-speed network multiplexers

The simulation of statistical multiplexers in high-speed networks requires excessively long simulation runs when extremely small cell loss ratios are considered. We present an approach that allows the fast parallel simulation of finite capacity statistical multiplexers driven by bursty ON/OFF sources. Our approach is based on two techniques: (1) the derivation of cell level statistics from a burst level simulation; and (2) the use of time-parallel methods without fix-up phases for the burst level simulation. Both techniques contribute to the overall simulation speedup. The latter technique allows speedup factors that are linear with respect to the number of processors. An implementation of the method using 16 processors on a KSR 1 multiprocessor simulates from two million to over one billion cell arrivals per second, or up to five orders of magnitude faster than an efficient conventional sequential simulation