In-situ sampling of a large-scale particle simulation for interactive visualization and analysis
We propose storing a random sampling of data from large scale particle simulations, such as the Roadrunner Universe MC{sup 3} cosmological simulation, to be used for interactive post-analysis and visualization. Simulation data generation rates will continue to be far greater than storage bandwidth rates and other limiting technologies by many orders of magnitude. This implies that only a very small fraction of data generated by the simulation can ever be stored and subsequently post-analyzed. The limiting technology in this situation is analogous to the problem in many population surveys: there aren't enough human resources to query a large population. To cope with the lack of resources, statistical sampling techniques are used to create a representative data set of a large population. Mirroring that situation, we propose to store a simulation-time random sampling of the particle data to cope with the bOlllenecks and support interactive, exploratory post-analysis. The particle samples are immediately stored in a level-ol-detail format for post-visualization and analysis, which amortizes the cost of post-processing for interactive visualization. Additionally, we incorporate a system for recording and visualizing sample approximation error information for confidence and importance highlighting.