Distributed simulation of agent-based systems with HLA

In this article we describe HLA_AGENT, a tool for the distributed simulation of agent-based systems, which integrates the SIM_AGENT agent toolkit and the High Level Architecture (HI-A) simulator interoperability framework. HLA_AGENT offers enhanced simulation scalability and allows interoperation with other HLA-compliant simulators, promoting simulation reuse. Using a simple Tileworld example, we show how HLA_AGENT can be used to flexibly distribute a SIM_AGENT simulation so as to exploit available computing resources. We present experimental results that illustrate the performance Of HLA_AGENT on a Linux cluster running a distributed version of Tileworld and compare this with the original nondistributed SIM_AGENT version.