A simulator for MIMD performance prediction: application to the S-1 MkIIa multiprocessor

We describe a MIMD multiprocessor simulator and application of that simulator to a multiprocessor of current interest, the S-1 MkIIa. The simulator runs on the CRAY-1 and is designed so that computational physics benchmarks are actually run and produce results. Simulator output from this run is fed into a second level (hardware) simulator which calculates the behavior of the multiprocessor. The simulator can simulate multiprocessors whose basic architecture is that of a few, large processors with or without data caches, sharing global memory through an interconnection switch. The simulator is applied to the investigation of the behavior of four problems on the S-1: The benchmark physics code SIMPLE, a conjugate gradient linear algebra problem, a simple Monte-Carlo problem, and a new method for neutron transport calculations.