netShip: A Networked Virtual Platform for Large-Scale Heterogeneous Distributed Embedded Systems

From a single SoC to a network of embedded devices communicating with a backend cloud-computing server, emerging classes of embedded systems feature an increasing number of heterogeneous components that operate concurrently in a distributed environment. As the scale and complexity of these systems continues to grow, there is a critical need for scalable and efficient simulators. We propose a networked virtual platform as a scalable environment for modeling and simulation. The goal is to support the development and optimization of embedded computing applications by handling heterogeneity at the chip, node, and network level. To illustrate the properties of our approach, we present two very different case studies: the design of an Open MPI scheduler for a heterogeneous distributed embedded system and the development of an application for crowd estimation through the analysis of pictures uploaded from mobile phones.