Efficient distributed simulation of a communication switch with bursty sources and losses

Algorithms for simulating an ATM switch on a distributed memory multiprocessor are described. These include parallel generation of bursty arrival streams, along with the marking and deleting of lost cells due to buffer overflows. These algorithms increase the amount of computation carried out independently by each processor and reduce the communication between the processors. When the number of cells lost is relatively small, the run time of the simulation is approximately O(N/P), where N is the total number of cells simulated and P is the number of processors. The cells are processed in intervals of fixed length; that length affects the structure and the performance of the algorithms.