The Implementation and Visualisation of a Large Spatial Individual-Based Model

Abstract

We look in detail at the implementation of a simulation of the spread of Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus in a barley field. The model considers explicitly each individual plant and aphid, therefore it requires special care to reduce the amount of storage used whilst still producing a computationally efficient code. We attempt to quantify the cost of some of the decisions made in terms of their memory and processor time requirements. Finally we briefly consider the visualisation of the results and how the amount of data produced by the model may be reduced to a manageable level.