Motivated by a wide range of applications, research
on agent-based models of contagion propagation over networks
has attracted a lot of attention in the literature. Many of
the available software systems for simulating such agent-based
models require users to download software, build the executable
and set up execution environments. Further, running the resulting
executable may require access to high performance computing
clusters. Our work describes an open access software system
(NetSimS) that works under the “Modeling and Simulation as a
Service” (MSaaS) paradigm. It allows users to run simulations by
selecting agent-based models and parameters, initial conditions,
and networks through a web interface. The system supports a
variety of models and networks with millions of nodes and edges.
In addition to the simulator, the system includes components
that allow users to choose initial conditions for simulations
in a variety of ways, to analyze the data generated through
simulations, and to produce plots from the data. We describe the
components of NetSimS and carry out a performance evaluation
of the system. We also discuss two case studies carried out on
large networks using the system. NetSimS is a major component
within net.science, a cyberinfrastructure for network science.
Index Terms—Agent-Based Simulation, Contagion, Networks,
Modeling and Simulation as a Service, Cyberinfrastructure
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A Web-Based System for Contagion Simulations on Networked Populations
Motivated by a wide range of applications, research on agent-based models of contagion propagation over networks has attracted a lot of attention in the literature. Many of the available software systems for simulating such agent-based models require users to download software, build the executable, and set up execution environments. Further, running the resulting executable may require access to high performance computing clusters. Our work describes an open access software system (NetSimS) that works under the “Modeling and Simulation as a Service” (MSaaS) paradigm. It enables users to run simulations by selecting models and parameter values, initial conditions, and networks through a web interface. The system supports a variety of models and networks with millions of nodes and edges. In addition to the simulator, the system includes components that enable users to choose initial conditions for simulations in a variety of ways, to analyze the data generated through simulations, and to produce plots from the data. We describe the components of NetSimS and carry out a performance evaluation of the system. We also discuss two case studies carried out on large networks using the system. NetSimS is a major component within net.science, a cyberinfrastructure for network science.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1916670
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10385091
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- IEEE International Conference on e-Science
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1-10
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/eScience55777.2022.00044
