Experimenting the GPU delegation principle for MABS: Reynold's Boids as a case study

Experimenting the GPU delegation principle for MABS: Reynold's Boids as a case study

Emmanuel Hermellin
Fabien Michel

LIRMM - Laboratoire Informatique Robotique et Microélectronique de Montpellier Université de Montpellier - CNRS - 161 Rue Ada, 34090 Montpellier, France

Corresponding Author Email: 
{hermellin,fmichel}@lirmm.fr
Page: 
109-132
|
DOI: 
https://doi.org/10.3166/RIA.30.109-132
Received: 
N/A
| |
Accepted: 
N/A
| | Citation
Abstract: 

General-Purpose Computing on Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU) allows to extend the scalability and performances of Multi-Agent Based Simulations (MABS). However, GPGPU requires the underlying program to be compliant with the specific architecture of GPU devices, which is very constraining. In this context, the GPU Environmental Delegation of Agent Perceptions principle has been proposed to ease the use of GPGPU for MABS. The idea is to identify in the model some computations which can be transformed into environmental dynamics and then translated into GPU modules. In this paper, we further trial this principle by testing its feasibility and genericness on a classic ABM, namely Reynolds’s boids. The paper then shows that applying GPU delegation not only speeds up boids simulations but also produces an ABM which is easy to understand, thanks to a clear separation of concerns.

Keywords: 

GPGPU, MABS, Flocking, CUDA.

1. Introduction
2. Les boids de Reynolds
3. Proposition d’un modèle de boids
4. Délégation GPU des perceptions agents
5. Délégation GPU et flocking
6. Expérimentation
7. Discussion autour de la délégation GPU
8. Conclusion et perspectives
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