Parallelization of a predator-prey simulation using time warp

It has long been considered that the predator-prey simulation can only be tackled by time-driven simulation because unpredictable interactions may only be detected by exhaustive testing. The authors describe the parallelization of this application using a `Simulation Testbed´ developed within the Parallel Systems Group at Exeter University. Mapping a simulation onto a message-passing parallel architecture is particularly difficult when it involves interactions between moving objects (such as predators and prey). The main problems which arise in the parallelization of this type of simulation using the `Time Warp´ mechanism are discussed