Abstract:
With computer processors running at speeds closer to their theoretical limit, the recent focus has turned to the use of parallelism in hardware by the use of multicore processors for speedup. However, duplicating processors do not automatically translate to faster task execution. The tasks are to be carefully assigned and scheduled so that their total execution time on the multiple processors is minimal. We propose an optimal Integer Linear Programming formulation for the Multiprocessor Scheduling Problem with Communication Delays (MSPCD). The formulations use an effective method to linearise the bi-linear forms arising out of communication delays and introduce new overlap constraints to ensure that no two tasks running on the same processor overlap in time. The proposed formulation is compared with known ILP formulations that solve the MSPCD problem.