Simulating inter-process communication with Extended Queuing Networks

Extended Queuing Networks (EQN) are popular models for performance simulation of computer systems and communication networks. Beside the well known advantages of EQNs, inter-process communication is difficult to model. To enable functional simulation of complex hardware/software systems, we introduce two novel network elements: trigger nodes and delay nodes. The enhancement of EQNs, brought forward in this contribution, enables the simulation of non-concurrent tasks for the evaluation of non-functional system properties, like performance or power consumption. ontribution also provides implementation details and experimental results of a prototype simulator, capable of simulating Extended Queuing Networks, comprising the proposed enhancements.