'Sugarscaping' Inside a Beowulf Ring

Team: 11

School: Artesia High

Area of Science: Parallel Computing and Behavioral Science

Interim:
Problem Definition:
Sugarscape, as a complex mathematical and computational model, can cause a normal computer to “freeze” after a given amount of time running the model. The typical Sugarscape models a society with trade, life and death, sex, disease, and other aspects of life that affect people. All of the past versions of the Sugarscape model that are known have not been coded to run in parallel for use on a Beowulf ring or supercomputing cluster. The problem this project is attempting to solve: the issue of modern Sugarscape programs' inability to run in parallel environments.

The goal of this project is to reprogram the Sugarscape model to run in parallel so it can be run on a Beowulf ring, allowing the model to be run for more iterations, and to allow more data to be collected.

Problem Solution:
The first step will be reprogramming Sugarscape in Java to allow it to run in parallel on the Beowulf ring that this team has created and tested. Then, testing the program to ensure the processor load is distributed across the Beowulf ring evenly. Multiple runs of Sugarscape in a “normal” single processor environment will be conducted to compare with multiple runs of Sugarscape in the multiple processor Beowulf ring's environment to demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness.

Progress to Date:
All of the team except one member attended the kick-off conference. Presently, the team has done some preliminary “grunt work” for the basis of the project. A Beowulf ring has been assembled, installed, tested, and verified to be in working order. The Beowulf ring runs clusterKnoppix natively and consists of seven nodes. The bibliography appended indicates that some preliminary, basic research has been done.

Expected Results:
After reprogramming, testing, and refining of the ‘Sugarscape,’ the program should run and distribute the processing evenly throughout the Beowulf ring. The basic assumption, that single processor Sugarscapes are effective, is a possible issue that we do not anticipate resolving in this project.
Team Members: Wen Hai Zheng, Isaiah Jordan, Dakota Lawson, Wes Green, James McGee
Sponsoring Teacher: Randall Gaylor
Mentor(s):

Dr. Robert Robey

Matt Conn

"Beowulf (computing) -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 15 Sept. 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf_(computing)>.

Epstein, Joshua M. Growing artificial societies: Social science from the bottom up. Washington, D.C: Brookings Institution, 1996. Print.

The Linux Documentation Project. Web. 15 Sept. 2009. <http://tldp.org/HOWTO/openMosix-HOWTO/>.

"NetLogo User Community Models: Sugarscape." The Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling. Web. 15 Sept. 2009. <http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/community/Sugarscape>.

"OpenMosix -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 15 Sept. 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenMosix>.

OpenMosix, an Open Source Linux Cluster Project. Web. 15 Sept. 2009. <http://openmosix.sourceforge.net/>.

"The openMosix Stress-Test." OpenMosixview cluster-management GUI. Web. 15 Sept. 2009. <http://www.openmosixview.com/omtest/>.
Random stuff from the past. Web. 17 Oct. 2009.

<http://wspinell.altervista.org/index.php?section=20_sugarscape>.

"StarLogo Sample Projects - Sugarscape." Web. 20 Sept. 2009. <http://education.mit.edu/starlogo/samples/sugarscape.htm>.

Sugarscape - Growing Agent-based Artificial Societies. Web. 18 Sept. 2009. <http://sugarscape.sourceforge.net/>.

"SugarScape." Ressources naturelles et simulations multi-agents. Web. 22 Sept. 2009. <http://cormas.cirad.fr/en/applica/sugarScape.htm>

Team Members:

  Dakota Lawson
  hai zheng
  James McGee
  Isaiah Jordan
  Wesley Green

Sponsoring Teacher: Randall Gaylor

Mail the entire Team