Existing approaches to implement state saving are not appropriate for large Time Warp programs. The authors propose a component called the rollback chip (RBC) that efficiently implements state saving. Such a component could be used in a programmable, special purpose parallel discrete event simulation engine based on Time Warp. The algorithms implemented by the rollback chip are described, as well as mechanisms that allow efficient implementation. Results of simulation studies are presented that show that the rollback chip can virtually eliminate the state saving and rollback overheads that plague current software implementations of Time Warp.>

A special-purpose simulation engine based on the Time Warp mechanism is proposed to attack large-scale discrete-event simulation problems. A key component of this engine is the rollback chip, a hardware component that efficiently implements state saving and rollback functions in Time Warp. The algorithms implemented by the rollback chip are described, as well as mechanisms that allow efficient implementation. Results of simulation studies are presented that show that the rollback chip can virtually eliminate the state-saving overhead that plagues current software implementations of Time Wrap.>