OpTiX-II: A Software Environment for MCDM based on Distributed and Parallel Computing

Abstract

The intention of the paper is to give an introduction to the OpTiX-II Software Environment, which supports the parallel and distributed solution of decision problems which can be represented as mathematical nonlinear programming tasks. First, a brief summary of nonsequential solution concepts for this class of decision problems on multiprocessor systems will be given. The focus of attention will be put on coarse-grained parallelization and its implementation on multi-computer clusters. The conceptual design objectives for the OpTiX-II Software Environment will be presented as well as the implementation on a workstation cluster, a transputer system and a multiprocessor workstation (shared memory). The OpTiX-II system supports the steps from the formulation of decision problems to their solution on networks of (parallel) computers. In order to demonstrate the use of OpTiX-II, the solution of a decision problem from the field of structural design is discussed and some numerical test results are supplied