A real-time simulation of a hierarchical computer network for process control

Hierarchical computer networks are useful in process control because they decentralize processing and thereby result in easier system development and greater fault tolerance. This type of network can be characterized by the flow of jobs to and from a single node computer. In this work a three-level hierarchy with a single node computer has been simu lated using a dual minicomputer system. One of the machines is used to simulate the node computer, the other machine to represent the low-level computers and the overall master computer. The simulation allows the user to maintain control over all key network parameters and to adjust them dynamically if desired. The output data permits the detailed monitoring of the performance of the net work. Some typical operating results are presented which illustrate the use of the approach to evaluate alternate job-scheduling strategies or to optimize a single scheduling algorithm.