Performance modeling of parallel and distributed computing using PACE

There is a wide range of performance models being developed for the performance evaluation of parallel and distributed systems. A performance modelling approach described in this paper is based on a layered framework of the PACE methodology. With an initial implementation system, the model described by a performance specification language, CHIP³S, can provide a capability for rapid calculation of relevant performance information without sacrificing accuracy of predictions. An example of the performance evaluation of an ASCI kernel application, Sweep3D, is used to illustrate the approach. The validation results on different parallel and distributed architectures with different problem sizes show a reasonable accuracy (approximately 12% error at most) can be obtained, allows cross-platform comparisons to be easily undertaken, and has a rapid evaluation time (typically less than 2s)