GraphTrans: A Software System for Network Conversions for Simulation, Structural Analysis, and Graph Operations

• Published in: 2021 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC) pp. 1 - 12
• Main Authors: Carscadden, Henry L., Machi, Lucas, Kuhlman, Chris J., Machi, Dustin, Ravi, S. S.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 12-12-2021
• Subjects: Analytical models; Computational modeling; Performance evaluation; Power transmission; Social networking (online); Software systems; Visualization
• ISSN: 1558-4305
• DOI: 10.1109/WSC52266.2021.9715472

Network representations of socio-physical systems are ubiquitous, examples being social (media) networks and infrastructure networks like power transmission and water systems. The many software tools that analyze and visualize networks, and carry out simulations on them, require different graph formats. Consequently, it is important to develop software for converting graphs that are represented in a given source format into a required representation in a destination format. For network-based computations, graph conversion is a key capability that facilitates interoperability among software tools. This paper describes such a system called GraphTrans to convert graphs among different formats. This system is part of a new cyberinfrastructure for network science called net. science. We present the GraphTrans system design and implementation, results from a performance evaluation, and a case study to demonstrate its utility.