Using the Parallel Research Kernels to Study PGAS Models

A subset of the Parallel Research Kernels (PRK),simplified parallel application patterns, are used to study the behavior of different runtimes implementing the PGAS programming model. The goal of this paper is to show that such an approach is practical and effective as we approach the exascale era. Our experimental results indicate that forthe kernels we selected, MPI with two-sided communications outperforms the PGAS runtimes SHMEM, UPC, Grappa, and MPI-3 with RMA extensions.