Cellular processing tools for high-performance simulation

Recently, computational simulation has become a third approach-along with t heory and laboratory simulation-to studying and solving scientific problems . In this approach, a computer equipped with problem-solving software tools may represent a virtual laboratory in which researchers can build a model for a given problem and run it under varying conditions. These increasingly complex computational methodologies require sophisticated models and techn iques, and vice versa. The authors explain how developing and validating co mplex models will increasingly depend on significant advances in experiment al and testing techniques. High-performance parallel computers gave researc hers the ability to implement inherently parallel techniques such as cellul ar automata (CA), neural networks, and genetic algorithms-significant new m athematical models for describing complex scientific phenomena.