The Structural Simulation Toolkit: A Tool for Exploring Parallel Architectures and Applications

Parallel and multithreaded architectures and execution models are poised to dominate comput-ing. This growing complexity makes system design ever more challenging and has led to a drive for innovation in systems where the impact of innovation is hard to predict. The Structural Simulation Toolkit (SST) was developed to explore novel systems where the processor, memory and commu-nications system interact with the programming model. It is designed to be an open framework that unifies hybrid discrete event simulation and time-stepping simulation to enable both detailed and abstracted simulations. The focus on parallel and multithreaded systems has been validated through experimentation with models of everything from processing-in-memory to conventional microprocessors connected by conventional network interfaces running a variety of programming models such as MPI and OpenMP. ∗Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the Unite