Energy efficient scheduling of real-time tasks on multi-core processors with voltage islands

This paper studies energy efficient scheduling of periodic real-time tasks on multi-core processors with voltage islands, in which cores are partitioned into multiple blocks (termed voltage islands) and each block has its own power source to supply voltage. Cores in the same block always operate at the same voltage level, but can be adjusted by using Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS). We propose a Voltage Island Largest Capacity First (VILCF) algorithm for energy efficient scheduling of periodic real-time tasks on multi-core processors. It achieves better energy efficiency by fully utilizing the remaining capacity of an island before turning on more islands or increasing the voltage level of the current active islands. We provide detailed theoretical analysis of the approximation ratio of the proposed VILCF algorithm in terms of energy efficiency. In addition, our experimental results show that VILCF significantly outperforms the existing algorithms when there are multiple cores in a voltage island.     

Power-aware scheduling algorithms for sporadic tasks in real-time systems

In this paper, we consider the canonical sporadic task model with the system-wide energy management problem. Our solution uses a generalized power model, in which the static power and the dynamic power are considered. We present a static solution to schedule the sporadic task set, assuming worst-case execution time for each sporadic tasks release, and propose a dynamic solution to reclaim the slacks left by the earlier completion of tasks than their worst-case estimations. The experimental results show that the proposed static algorithm can reduce the energy consumption by 20.63%–89.70% over the EDF* algorithm and the dynamic algorithm consumes 2.06%–24.89% less energy than that of the existing DVS algorithm.     

面向同构多核处理器的节能任务调度方法

对于运行在同构多核处理器上的周期性硬实时任务,设计了一个基于动态电压调节的节能调度方法。该方法首先将计算任务按照周期数降序排序并基于计算任务调度长度最短的原则安排任务映射。然后将各个处理核上具有最小通讯时间的计算任务设置为最后执行的计算任务而其它计算任务顺序保持不变。在初始映射中所有计算任务都被分配最高频率的情况下,每个处理核上的计算任务在执行时间扩展过程中确定最佳的计算任务顺序。基于 Intel PXA270的功耗模型,以几个随机任务集作实验。结果表明提出的方法能够有效地降低多核处理器的能量。     

A DVS-assisted hard real-time I/O device scheduling algorithm

The I/O subsystem has become a major source of energy consumption in a hard real-time monitoring and control system. To reduce its energy consumption without missing deadlines, a dynamic power management (DPM) policy must carefully consider the power parameters of a device, such as its break-even time and wake-up latency, when switching off idle devices. This problem becomes extremely complicated when dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) is applied to change the execution time of a task. In this paper, we present COLORS, a composite low-power scheduling framework that includes DVS in a DPM policy to maximize the energy reduction on the I/O subsystem. COLORS dynamically predicts the earliest-access time of a device and switches off idle devices. It makes use of both static and dynamic slack time to extend the execution time of a task by DVS, in order to create additional switch-off opportunities. Task workloads, processor profiles, and device characteristics all impact the performance of a low-power real-time algorithm. We also identify a key metric that primarily determines its performance. The experimental results show that, compared with previous work, COLORS achieves additional energy reduction up to 20%, due to the efficient utilization of slack time.

Adaptive energy-efficient scheduling for real-time tasks on DVS-enabled heterogeneous clusters

Developing energy-efficient clusters not only can reduce power electricity cost but also can improve system reliability. Existing scheduling strategies developed for energy-efficient clusters conserve energy at the cost of performance. The performance problem becomes especially apparent when cluster computing systems are heavily loaded. To address this issue, we propose in this paper a novel scheduling strategy–adaptive energy-efficient scheduling or AEES–for aperiodic and independent real-time tasks on heterogeneous clusters with dynamic voltage scaling. The AEES scheme aims to adaptively adjust voltages according to the workload conditions of a cluster, thereby making the best trade-offs between energy conservation and schedulability. When the cluster is heavily loaded, AEES considers voltage levels of both new tasks and running tasks to meet tasks’ deadlines. Under light load, AEES aggressively reduces the voltage levels to conserve energy while maintaining higher guarantee ratios. We conducted extensive experiments to compare AEES with an existing algorithm–MEG, as well as two baseline algorithms–MELV, MEHV. Experimental results show that AEES significantly improves the scheduling quality of MELV, MEHV and MEG.     

基于辅助队列的硬实时混合任务节能调度算法

节能调度是当今实时系统研究的一个重要领域,其中混合实时任务节能调度技术研究刚刚起步.OLDVS算法是非常简洁的硬实时系统在线节能调度算法,但存在以下不足:不适应任务执行的动态变化,不能有效利用动态松弛时间,过于保守以致节能效果并不理想.据此,提出一种新的基于辅助队列的硬实时混合任务节能调度算法(OLDVS-AQ).通过引入一个额外的数据结构即辅助队列(Assisted Queue,AQ)来计算任务的最大完成时间,能够更有效地利用动态松弛时间进一步降低能耗.证明了该算法的可调度性,仿真实验结果表明,OLDVS-AQ算法始终优于OLDVS算法.平均提高约10%的节能效果.     

Supervisory control for real-time scheduling of periodic and sporadic tasks with resource constraints

In the framework of supervisory control of timed discrete event systems, this paper addresses the design problem of a real-time scheduler that meets stringent time constraints of periodic tasks and sporadic tasks which exclusively access shared resources. For this purpose, we present the timed discrete event models of execution of periodic tasks and sporadic tasks and resource access for shared resources. Based on these models, we present the notion of deadlock-free and schedulable languages that contain only deadline-meeting sequences which do not reach deadlock states. In addition, we present the method of systematically computing the largest deadlock-free and schedulable language, and it is also shown that schedulability analysis can be done using this language. We further show that the real-time scheduler achieving the largest deadlock-free and schedulable language is optimal in the sense that there are no other schedulers to achieve schedulable cases more than those achieved by the optimal scheduler.     

硬实时混合任务在线节能调度技术分析

对混合实时任务节能调度技术进行了分析,深入探讨了目前优秀的硬实时系统在线节能调度算法(OLDVS),指出其存在不足的原因 ,即松弛时间丢失和松弛时间转移。为了提高其节能效果,给出了多种改进思路,为进一步研究工作做出有益的探索。     

DFTS: A dynamic fault-tolerant scheduling for real-time tasks in multicore processors

This paper presents a dynamic scheduling for real-time tasks in multicore processors to tolerate single and multiple transient faults. The scheduling is performed based on three important issues: (1) current released tasks, (2) current available processor cores, and (3) consideration of the number of faults and their occurrences. Using tasks utilization along with a defined criticality threshold in the proposed scheduling method, current ready tasks are divided into critical- and noncritical ones. Based on whether a task is critical or noncritical, an appropriate fault-tolerance policy is exploited. Moreover, scheduling decisions are made to fulfill two key goals: (1) increasing scheduling feasibility and (2) decreasing the total tasks execution time. Several simulation experiments are carried out to compare the proposed method with two well-known methods, called checkpointing with rollback recovery and hardware replication. Experimental results reveal that in the presence of multiple transient faults, the feasibility rate of the proposed method is considerably higher than the other well-known fault-tolerance methods. Moreover, the average timing overhead of this method is lower than the traditional methods.     

Energy-aware task migration for multiprocessor real-time systems

A task migration method is proposed for energy savings in multiprocessor real-time systems. The method is based on the portioned scheduling technique which classifies each task as a fixed task or a migratable task. The basic task migration problem with specific parameters is formulated as a linear programming problem to minimize average power. Then, the method is extended to more general case with a complete migration algorithm. Moreover, a scheduling algorithm is proposed for migratable tasks. Simulation results on two processor models demonstrated significant energy savings over existing methods.     

Applying pinwheel scheduling and compiler profiling for power-aware real-time scheduling

Energy consumption is a critical design issue in embedded systems, especially in battery-operated systems. Maintaining high performance while extending the battery life is an interesting challenge for system designers. Dynamic voltage scaling and dynamic frequency scaling allow us to adjust supply voltage and processor frequency to adapt to the workload demand for better energy management. Because of the high complexity involved, most solutions depend on heuristics for online power-aware real-time scheduling or offline time-consuming scheduling. In this paper, we discuss how we can apply pinwheel model to power-aware real-time scheduling so that task information, including start times, finish times, preemption times, etc, can be efficiently derived using pinwheel model. System predictability is thus increased and under better control on power-awareness. However, job execution time may be only a small portion of its worst case execution time and can only be determined at runtime. We implement a profiling tool to insert codes for collecting runtime information of real-time tasks. Worst case execution time is updated online for scheduler to perform better rescheduling according to actual execution. Simulations have shown that at most 50% energy can be saved by the proposed scheduling algorithm. Moreover, at most additional 33% energy can be saved when the profiling technique is applied. This paper is an extended version of the paper Power-Aware Real-Time Scheduling using Pinwheel Model and Profiling Technique that appeared in the 11th IEEE International Conference on Embedded and Real-Time Computing Systems and Applications.     

Approximation algorithm for periodic real-time tasks with workload-dependent running-time functions

This paper addresses the problem of resource allocation for distributed real-time periodic tasks, operating in environments that undergo unpredictable changes and that defy the specification of meaningful worst-case execution times. These tasks are supplied by input data originating from various environmental workload sources. Rather than using worst-case execution times (WCETs) to describe the CPU usage of the tasks, we assume here that execution profiles are given to describe the running time of the tasks in terms of the size of the input data of each workload source. The objective of resource allocation is to produce an initial allocation that is robust against fluctuations in the environmental parameters. We try to maximize the input size (workload) that can be handled by the system, and hence to delay possible (costly) reallocations as long as possible. We present an approximation algorithm based on first-fit and binary search that we call FFBS. As we show here, the first-fit algorithm produces solutions that are often close to optimal. In particular, we show analytically that FFBS is guaranteed to produce a solution that is at least 41% of optimal, asymptotically, under certain reasonable restrictions on the running times of tasks in the system. Moreover, we show that if at most 12% of the system utilization is consumed by input independent tasks (e.g., constant time tasks), then FFBS is guaranteed to produce a solution that is at least 33% of optimal, asymptotically. Moreover, we present simulations to compare FFBS approximation algorithm with a set of standard (local search) heuristics such as hill-climbing, simulated annealing, and random search. The results suggest that FFBS, in combination with other local improvement strategies, may be a reasonable approach for resource allocation in dynamic real-time systems. David Juedes is a tenured associate professor and assistant chair for computer science in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Ohio University. Dr. Juedes received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Iowa State University in 1994, and his main research interests are algorithm design and analysis, the theory of computation, algorithms for real-time systems, and bioinformatics. Dr. Juedes has published numerous conference and journal papers and has acted as a referee for IEEE Transactions on Computers, Algorithmica, SIAM Journal on Computing, Theoretical Computer Science, Information and Computation, Information Processing Letters, and other conferences and journals. Dazhang Gu is a software architect and researcher at Pegasus Technologies (NeuCo), Inc. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Ohio University in 2005. His main research interests are real-time systems, distributed systems, and resource optimization. He has published conference and journal papers on these subjects and has refereed for the Journal of Real-Time Systems, IEEE Transactions on Computers, and IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems among others. He also served as a session chair and publications chair for several conferences. Frank Drews is an Assistant Professor of Electical Engineering and Computer Science at Ohio Unversity. Dr. Drews received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Clausthal Unversity of Technolgy in Germany in 2002. His main research interests are resource management for operating systems and real-time systems, and bioinformatics. Dr. Drews has numerous publications in conferences and journals and has served as a reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Computers, the Journal of Systems and Software, and other conferences and Journals. He was Publication Chair for the OCCBIO’06 conference, Guest Editor of a Special Issue of the Journal of Systems and Software on “Dynamic Resource Management for Distributed Real-Time Systems”, organizer of special tracks at the IEEE IPDPS WPDRTS workshops in 2005 and 2006. Klaus Ecker received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Graz, Austria, and his Dr. habil. in Computer Science from the University of Bonn. Since 1978 he is professor in the Department of Computer Science at the Clausthal University of Technology, Germany, and since 2005 he is visiting professor at the Ohio University. His research interests are parallel processing and theory of scheduling, especially in real time systems, and bioinformatics. Prof. Ecker published widely in the above mentioned areas in well reputed journals and proceedings of international conferences as well. He is also the author of two monographs on scheduling theory. Since 1981 he is organizing annually international workshops on parallel processing. He is associate editor of Real Time Systems, and member of the German Gesellschaft fuer Informatik (GI) and of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Lonnie R. Welch received a Ph.D. in Computer and Information Science from the Ohio State University. Currently, he is the Stuckey Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Ohio University. Dr. Welch performs research in the areas of real-time systems, distributed computing and bioinformatics. His research has been sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Navy, NASA, the National Science Foundation and the Army. Dr. Welch has twenty years of research experience in the area of high performance computing. In his graduate work at Ohio State University, he developed a high performance 3-D graphics rendering algorithm, and he invented a parallel virtual machine for object-oriented software. For the past 15 years his research has focused on middleware and optimization algorithms for high performance computing. His research has produced three successive generations of adaptive resource management (RM) middleware for high performance real-time systems. The project has resulted in two patents and more than 150 publications. Professor Welch also collaborates on diabetes research with faculty at Edison Biotechnology Institute and on genomics research with faculty in the Department of Environmental and Plant Biology at Ohio University. Dr. Welch is a member of the editorial boards of IEEE Transactions on Computers, The Journal of Scalable Computing: Practice and Experience, and The International Journal of Computers and Applications. He is also the founder of the International Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Real-time Systems and of the Ohio Collaborative Conference on Bioinformatics. Silke Schomann graduated in 2003 with a M.Sc. in Computer Science from Clausthal University Of Technology, where she has been working as a scientific assistant since then. She is currently working on her Ph.D. thesis in computer science at the same university.     

Slack computation for DVS algorithms in fixed-priority real-time systems using fluid slack analysis

This work presents a scheduling algorithm to reduce the energy of hard real-time tasks with fixed priorities assigned in a rate-monotonic policy. Sets of independent tasks running periodically on a processor with dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) are considered as well. The proposed online approach can cooperate with many slack-time analysis methods based on low-power work demand analysis (lpWDA) without increasing the computational complexity of DVS algorithms. The proposed approach introduces a novel technique called low-power fluid slack analysis (lpFSA) that extends the analysis interval produced by its cooperative methods and computes the available slack in the extended interval. The lpFSA regards the additional slack as fluid and computes its length, such that it can be moved to the current job. Therefore, the proposed approach provides the cooperative methods with additional slack. Experimental results show that the proposed approach combined with lpWDA-based algorithms achieves more energy reductions than do the initial algorithms alone.     

An energy-efficient real-time scheduling scheme on dual-channel networks

The recent evolution of wireless sensor networks have yielded a demand to improve energy-efficient scheduling algorithms and energy-efficient medium access protocols. This paper proposes an energy-efficient real-time scheduling scheme that reduces power consumption and network errors on dual channel networks. The proposed scheme is based on a dynamic modulation scaling scheme which can scale the number of bits per symbol and a switching scheme which can swap the polling schedule between channels. Built on top of EDF scheduling policy, the proposed scheme enhances the power performance without violating the constraints of real-time streams. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme enhances fault-tolerance and reduces power consumption.     

On-line scheduling of scalable real-time tasks on multiprocessor systems

The computation time of scalable tasks depends on the number of processors allocated to them in multiprocessor systems. As more processors are allocated to a scalable task, the overall computation time of the task decreases but the total amount of processors’ time devoted to the execution of the task, called workload, increases due to parallel execution overhead. In this paper, we propose a task scheduling algorithm that utilizes the property of scalable tasks for on-line and real-time scheduling. In the proposed algorithm, the total workload of all scheduled tasks is reduced by managing processors allocated to the tasks as few as possible without missing their deadlines. As a result, the processors in the system have less load to execute the scheduled tasks and can execute more newly arriving tasks before their deadlines. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm performs significantly better than the conventional algorithm based on a fixed number of processors to execute each task.     

An evolutionary approach to multiprocessor scheduling of dependent tasks

The scheduling of application tasks is a problem that occurs in all multiprocessor systems. This problem has been shown to be NP-hard if the tasks are not independent but are interrelated by mutual exclusion and precedence constraints.

This paper presents an approach for pre-runtime scheduling of periodic tasks on multiple processors for a real-time system that must meet hard deadlines. The tasks can be related to each other by mutual exclusion and precedence forming an acyclic graph. The proposed scheduler is based on genetic algorithms, which relieves the user from knowing how to construct a solution. Consequently, the paper focuses on the problem encoding, i.e., the representation of the problem by genes and chromosomes, and the derivation of an appropriate fitness function. The main benefit of the approach is that it is scalable to any number of processors and can easily be extended to incorporate further requirements.     

适用于不确定环境中的DVS软实时调度算法

为了解决嵌入式软实时系统的节能问题,提出了一种DVS调度算法。它的特点是克服了任务执行时间不确定所带来的干扰,在运行时动态地寻找最优电压调节方案。实验表明：该调度算法可以很好地保证软实时系统的效率和稳定性,即使在处理器超载的情况下,也能自动调节,超过99%的作业可以在时间期限之前完成。对多种随机任务集的评测显示,该调度算法使得系统能耗平均减少15%以上。     

On the complexity of fixed-priority scheduling of periodic, real-time tasks

We consider the complexity of determining whether a set of periodic, real-time tasks can be scheduled on m 1 identical processors with respect to fixed-priority scheduling. It is shown that the problem is NP-hard in all but one special case. The complexity of optimal fixed-priority scheduling algorithm is also discussed.