High performance simulation for industry and society

Simulation is a decision support technique used in industry and society. Contemporary simulation software systems limit model size/detail and therefore the quality of results and the amount of investigation/experimentation that can be done in a project.

This work investigates (1) how distributed simulation techniques can be used to create large scale models and (2) how advanced high performance computing architectures (e.g. cloud, exascale computing) and systems (e.g. e-Infrastructures) can be used to speed up simulation experimentation.

Examples of successful projects: we have worked successfully with over 30 companies to create new high performance simulation software, with Saker Solutions and Sellafield PLC to create high performance distributed simulations of nuclear waste reprocessing, with the Ford Motor Company to speed up engine production simulation and with several healthcare institutions to speed up experimentation via science gateways.

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Publications

Taylor, S.J.E., Anagnostou, A., Kiss, T., Terstyanszky, G., Visti, H., Farkas, Z., Kacsuk, P., Sereda, A. and Fantini, N. (2018). The CloudSME simulation platform and its applications: A generic multi-cloud platform for developing and executing commercial cloud-based simulations. Future Generation Computer Systems. 88:524-539.
Taylor, S.J.E. Distributed Simulation: State-of-the-Art and Potential for Operational Research. (2019). European Journal of Operational Research. 273(1):1-19.
Kiss, T., DesLauriers, J., Gesmier, G., Terstyanszky, G., Pierantoni, G., Abu Oun, O., Taylor, S.J.E., Anagnostou, A., Kovacs, J. (2019). A cloud-agnostic queuing system to support the implementation of deadline-based application execution policies. Future Generation Computer Systems, 101: 99-111.
Taylor, S.J.E., Anagnostou, A., Kiss, T., Terstyanszky, G., Kacsuk, P., Fantini, N., Lakehal, D. and Costes, J. (2019). Enabling Cloud-based Computational Fluid Dynamics with a Platform-as-a-Service Solution. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics. 15(1): 85-94.

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Professor Simon Taylor - imon J E Taylor is a Professor of Computer Science specialising in Modelling & Simulation and Digital Infrastructures. He has made many contributions to manufacturing, health care and international development. He has worked with international consortia (in particular UNICT, WACREN and the UBUNTUNET ALLIANCE) to contribute to the development of National Research and Education Networks in Africa that has impacted over 3 million students and 300 universities. He has also worked with international consortia (in particular Saker Solutions, the University of Westminster, SZTAKI and CloudSME UG) to develop high performance simulation systems that are being used by over 30 European SMEs and large-scale enterprises such as the Ford Motor Company and Sellafield PLC. He continues to work closely with industry - his work has led to over £30M of savings and new products in industry. He also contributes to the development of Open Science principles and practice for Africa and for Modelling & Simulation as a field. He has led modules in distributed computing in the Department of Computer Science for many years with high module evaluations scores and is an enthusiastic teacher. He has also led the development of several postgraduate degrees. He has supervised over 20 doctoral students, has examined more than 25 doctoral students from across the world and has managed over 15 research fellows. Professor Taylor co-founded and is a former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Simulation and the UK Operational Research Society Simulation Workshop Series. He chaired ACM SIGSIM between 2005-2008 and since then has been an active member of the ACM SIGSIM Steering Committee. He is also the General Chair for the 2025 Winter Simulation Conference. He has chaired international standardisation groups under the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization and has conducted several organisational review panels (e.g., DSTL) and simulation audits. He is currently the executive chair for the annual Simulation Exploration Experience (https://www.exploresim.com/) and a member of the Computer Simulation Archive steering committee (https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/computer-simulation/). He has also chaired several conferences and is the General Chair for the IEEE/ACM 2025 Winter Simulation Conference. Interested in the history of computer simulation? Visit the Computer Simulation Archive hosted by NCSU and hear talks from some of the pioneers in computer simulation.

Related Research Group(s)

Modelling and Simulation - Investigating how modelling and simulation can be supported by research into high-performance computing, e-infrastructures, cyberinfrastructures, cloud computing and web-based simulation.

Partnering with confidence

Organisations interested in our research can partner with us with confidence backed by an external and independent benchmark: The Knowledge Exchange Framework. Read more.

Project last modified 02/10/2023