secr (version 5.0.0)

Parallel: Multi-core Processing

Description

From version 4.0 secr uses multi-threading in C++ (package RcppParallel, Allaire et al. 2021) to speed likelihood evaluation and hence model fitting in secr.fit. Detection histories are distributed over threads. Setting ncores = NULL in functions with multi-threading uses the existing value from the environment variable RCPP_PARALLEL_NUM_THREADS (see setNumThreads).

These functions use multi-threading and call setNumThreads internally:

autoini	confint.secr	derived.secr	esa.secr
fxi and related functions	pdot	region.N	score.test

These functions use multi-threading without calling setNumThreads:

LLsurface.secr

mask.check

expected.n

secr.test

Other functions may use multithreading indirectly through a call to one of these functions. Examples are suggest.buffer (autoini), esaPlot (pdot), and bias.D (pdot).

NOTE: The mechanism for setting the number of threads changed between versions 4.1.0 and 4.2.0. The default number of cores is now capped at 2 to meet CRAN requirements. Setting ncores = NULL previously specified one less than the maximum number of cores.

Earlier versions of secr made more limited use of multiple cores (CPUs) through the package parallel. The functions par.secr.fit, par.derived, and par.region.N are now deprecated because they were too slow. list.secr.fit replaces par.secr.fit

`Unit' refers to the unit of work sent to each worker process. As a guide, a `large' benefit means >60% reduction in process time with 4 CPUs.

parallel offers several different mechanisms, bringing together the functionality of multicore and snow. The mechanism used by secr is the simplest available, and is expected to work across all operating systems. Technically, it relies on Rscript and communication between the master and worker processes is via sockets. As stated in the parallel documentation "Users of Windows and Mac OS X may expect pop-up dialog boxes from the firewall asking if an R process should accept incoming connections". You may possibly get warnings from R about closing unused connections. These can safely be ignored.

Use parallel::detectCores() to get an idea of how many cores are available on your machine; this may (in Windows) include virtual cores over and above the number of physical cores. See RShowDoc("parallel", package = "parallel") in core R for explanation.

In secr.fit the output component `proctime' misrepresents the elapsed processing time when multiple cores are used.

Warning

It appears that multicore operations in secr using parallel may fail if the packages snow and snowfall are also loaded. The error message is obscure:

``Error in UseMethod("sendData") : no applicable method for 'sendData' applied to an object of class "SOCK0node"''

References

Allaire, J. J., Francois, R., Ushey, K., Vandenbrouck, G., Geelnard, M. and Intel (2021) RcppParallel: Parallel Programming Tools for 'Rcpp'. R package version 5.1.2. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=RcppParallel.

Examples

if (FALSE) {

sessionInfo()
# R version 4.3.0 (2023-04-21 ucrt)
# Platform: x86_64-w64-mingw32/x64 (64-bit)
# Running under: Windows 11 x64 (build 22621)
# on Dell-XPS 8950 Intel i7-12700K
# ...
# see stackoverflow suggestion for microbenchmark list argument
# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32950881/how-to-use-list-argument-in-microbenchmark

library(microbenchmark)
options(digits = 4)

## benefit from multi-threading in secr.fit

jobs <- lapply(seq(2,8,2), function(nc) 
    bquote(suppressWarnings(secr.fit(captdata, trace = FALSE, ncores = .(nc)))))
microbenchmark(list = jobs, times = 10, unit = "seconds")
# [edited output]
# Unit: seconds
# expr     min      lq   mean median     uq    max neval
# ncores = 2 1.75880 2.27978 2.6680 2.7450 3.0960 3.4334    10
# ncores = 4 1.13549 1.16280 1.6120 1.4431 2.0041 2.4018    10
# ncores = 6 0.88003 0.98215 1.2333 1.1387 1.5175 1.6966    10
# ncores = 8 0.78338 0.90033 1.5001 1.0406 1.2319 4.0669    10

## sometimes (surprising) lack of benefit with ncores>2

msk <- make.mask(traps(ovenCH[[1]]), buffer = 300, nx = 25)
jobs <- lapply(c(1,2,4,8), function(nc) 
    bquote(secr.fit(ovenCH, trace = FALSE, ncores = .(nc), mask = msk)))
microbenchmark(list = jobs, times = 10, unit = "seconds")
# [edited output]
# Unit: seconds
# expr     min      lq   mean median     uq    max neval
# ncores = 1 12.5010 13.4951 15.674 15.304 16.373 21.723    10
# ncores = 2 10.0363 11.8634 14.407 13.726 16.782 22.966    10
# ncores = 4  8.6335 10.3422 13.085 12.449 15.729 17.914    10
# ncores = 8  8.5286  9.9008 10.751 10.736 10.796 14.885    10

## and for simulation...

jobs <- lapply(seq(2,8,2), function(nc)
    bquote(sim.secr(secrdemo.0, nsim = 20, tracelevel = 0,  ncores = .(nc))))
microbenchmark(list = jobs, times = 10, unit = "seconds")
# [edited output]
# Unit: seconds
# expr    min     lq   mean median     uq     max neval
# ncores = 2 48.610 49.932 59.032 52.485 54.730 119.905    10
# ncores = 4 29.480 29.996 30.524 30.471 31.418  31.612    10
# ncores = 6 22.583 23.594 24.148 24.354 24.644  25.388    10
# ncores = 8 19.924 20.651 25.581 21.002 21.696  51.920    10

## and log-likelihood surface

jobs <- lapply(seq(2,8,2), function(nc) 
    bquote(suppressMessages(LLsurface(secrdemo.0,  ncores = .(nc)))))
microbenchmark(list = jobs, times = 10, unit = "seconds")
# [edited output]
# Unit: seconds
# expr    min     lq   mean median     uq    max neval
# ncores = 2 20.941 21.098 21.290 21.349 21.471 21.619    10
# ncores = 4 14.982 15.125 15.303 15.263 15.449 15.689    10
# ncores = 6 13.994 14.299 14.529 14.342 14.458 16.515    10
# ncores = 8 13.597 13.805 13.955 13.921 14.128 14.353    10

}