Ant Colony Heuristic for Mapping and Scheduling Tasks and Communications on Heterogeneous Embedded Systems

To exploit the power of modern heterogeneous multiprocessor embedded platforms on partitioned applications, the designer usually needs to efficiently map and schedule all the tasks and the communications of the application, respecting the constraints imposed by the target architecture. Since the problem is heavily constrained, common methods used to explore such design space usually fail, obtaining low-quality solutions. In this paper, we propose an ant colony optimization (ACO) heuristic that, given a model of the target architecture and the application, efficiently executes both scheduling and mapping to optimize the application performance. We compare our approach with several other heuristics, including simulated annealing, tabu search, and genetic algorithms, on the performance to reach the optimum value and on the potential to explore the design space. We show that our approach obtains better results than other heuristics by at least 16% on average, despite an overhead in execution time. Finally, we validate the approach by scheduling and mapping a JPEG encoder on a realistic target architecture

Mapeo estático y dinámico de tareas en sistemas multiprocesador, basados en redes en circuito integrado

RESUMEN: Las redes en circuito integrado (NoC) representan un importante paradigma de uso creciente para los sistemas multiprocesador en circuito integrado (MPSoC), debido a su flexibilidad y escalabilidad. Las estrategias de tolerancia a fallos han venido adquiriendo importancia, a medida que los procesos de manufactura incursionan en dimensiones por debajo del micrómetro y la complejidad de los diseños aumenta. Este artículo describe un algoritmo de aprendizaje incremental basado en población (PBIL), orientado a optimizar el proceso de mapeo en tiempo de diseño, así como a encontrar soluciones de mapeo óptimas en tiempo de ejecución, para hacer frente a fallos de único nodo en la red. En ambos casos, los objetivos de optimización corresponden al tiempo de ejecución de las aplicaciones y al ancho de banda pico que aparece en la red. Las simulaciones se basaron en un algoritmo de ruteo XY determinístico, operando sobre una topología de malla 2D para la NoC. Los resultados obtenidos son prometedores. El algoritmo propuesto exhibe un desempeño superior a otras técnicas reportadas cuando el tamaño del problema aumenta.ABSTARCT: Due to its scalability and flexibility, Network-on-Chip (NoC) is a growing and promising communication paradigm for Multiprocessor System-on-Chip (MPSoC) design. As the manufacturing process scales down to the deep submicron domain and the complexity of the system increases, fault-tolerant design strategies are gaining increased relevance. This paper exhibits the use of a Population-Based Incremental Learning (PBIL) algorithm aimed at finding the best mapping solutions at design time, as well as to finding the optimal remapping solution, in presence of single-node failures on the NoC. The optimization objectives in both cases are the application completion time and the network's peak bandwidth. A deterministic XY routing algorithm was used in order to simulate the traffic conditions in the network which has a 2D mesh topology. Obtained results are promising. The proposed algorithm exhibits a better performance, when compared with other reported approaches, as the problem size increases

An Enhanced Model for Job Sequencing and Dispatch in Identical Parallel Machines

This paper has developed an efficient scheduling model that is robust and minimizes the total completion time for job completion in identical parallel machines. The new model employs Genetic-Fuzzy technique for job sequencing and dispatch in identical parallel machines. It uses genetic algorithm technique to develop a job scheduler that does the job sequencing and optimization while fuzzy logic technique was used to develop a job dispatcher that dispatches job to the identical parallel machines. The methodology used for the design is the Object Oriented Analysis and Design Methodology (OOADM) and the system was implemented using C# and .NET framework. The model was tested with fifteen identical parallel machines used for printing. The parameters used in analyzing this model include the job scheduling length, average execution time, load balancing and machines utilization. The result generated from the developed model was compare with the result of other job scheduling models like First Come First Sever (FCFS) scheduling approach and Genetic Model (GA) scheduling approach. The result of the new model shows a better load balancing and high machine utilization among the individual machines when compared with the First Come First Serve (FCFS) scheduling model and Genetic Algorithm (GA) scheduling model. Keywords:  Parallel Machines, Genetic Model, Job Scheduler, Fuzzy Logic Technique, Load Balancing, Machines   Utilization DOI: 10.7176/CEIS/11-2-05 Publication date: March 31st 202

QoS-aware predictive workflow scheduling

This research places the basis of QoS-aware predictive workflow scheduling. This research novel contributions will open up prospects for future research in handling complex big workflow applications with high uncertainty and dynamism. The results from the proposed workflow scheduling algorithm shows significant improvement in terms of the performance and reliability of the workflow applications

Distributed and Lightweight Meta-heuristic Optimization method for Complex Problems

The world is becoming more prominent and more complex every day. The resources are limited and efficiently use them is one of the most requirement. Finding an Efficient and optimal solution in complex problems needs to practical methods. During the last decades, several optimization approaches have been presented that they can apply to different optimization problems, and they can achieve different performance on various problems. Different parameters can have a significant effect on the results, such as the type of search spaces. Between the main categories of optimization methods (deterministic and stochastic methods), stochastic optimization methods work more efficient on big complex problems than deterministic methods. But in highly complex problems, stochastic optimization methods also have some issues, such as execution time, convergence to local optimum, incompatible with distributed systems, and dependence on the type of search spaces. Therefore this thesis presents a distributed and lightweight metaheuristic optimization method (MICGA) for complex problems focusing on four main tracks. 1) The primary goal is to improve the execution time by MICGA. 2) The proposed method increases the stability and reliability of the results by using the multi-population strategy in the second track. 3) MICGA is compatible with distributed systems. 4) Finally, MICGA is applied to the different type of optimization problems with other kinds of search spaces (continuous, discrete and order based optimization problems). MICGA has been compared with other efficient optimization approaches. The results show the proposed work has been achieved enough improvement on the main issues of the stochastic methods that are mentioned before.Maailmasta on päivä päivältä tulossa yhä monimutkaisempi. Resurssit ovat rajalliset, ja siksi niiden tehokas käyttö on erittäin tärkeää. Tehokkaan ja optimaalisen ratkaisun löytäminen monimutkaisiin ongelmiin vaatii tehokkaita käytännön menetelmiä. Viime vuosikymmenien aikana on ehdotettu useita optimointimenetelmiä, joilla jokaisella on vahvuutensa ja heikkoutensa suorituskyvyn ja tarkkuuden suhteen erityyppisten ongelmien ratkaisemisessa. Parametreilla, kuten hakuavaruuden tyypillä, voi olla merkittävä vaikutus tuloksiin. Optimointimenetelmien pääryhmistä (deterministiset ja stokastiset menetelmät) stokastinen optimointi toimii suurissa monimutkaisissa ongelmissa tehokkaammin kuin deterministinen optimointi. Erittäin monimutkaisissa ongelmissa stokastisilla optimointimenetelmillä on kuitenkin myös joitain ongelmia, kuten korkeat suoritusajat, päätyminen paikallisiin optimipisteisiin, yhteensopimattomuus hajautetun toteutuksen kanssa ja riippuvuus hakuavaruuden tyypistä. Tämä opinnäytetyö esittelee hajautetun ja kevyen metaheuristisen optimointimenetelmän (MICGA) monimutkaisille ongelmille keskittyen neljään päätavoitteeseen: 1) Ensisijaisena tavoitteena on pienentää suoritusaikaa MICGA:n avulla. 2) Lisäksi ehdotettu menetelmä lisää tulosten vakautta ja luotettavuutta käyttämällä monipopulaatiostrategiaa. 3) MICGA tukee hajautettua toteutusta. 4) Lopuksi MICGA-menetelmää sovelletaan erilaisiin optimointiongelmiin, jotka edustavat erityyppisiä hakuavaruuksia (jatkuvat, diskreetit ja järjestykseen perustuvat optimointiongelmat). Työssä MICGA-menetelmää verrataan muihin tehokkaisiin optimointimenetelmiin. Tulokset osoittavat, että ehdotetulla menetelmällä saavutetaan selkeitä parannuksia yllä mainittuihin stokastisten menetelmien pääongelmiin liittyen

A hybrid ant algorithm for scheduling independent jobs in heterogeneous computing environments

The efficient scheduling of independent computational jobs in a heterogeneous computing (HC) environment is an important problem in domains such as grid computing. Finding optimal schedules for such an environment is (in general) an NP-hard problem, and so heuristic approaches must be used. In this paper we describe an ant colony optimisation (ACO) algorithm that, when combined with local and tabu search, can find shorter schedules on benchmark problems than other techniques found in the literature