On the periodic behavior of real-time schedulers on identical multiprocessor platforms

This paper is proposing a general periodicity result concerning any deterministic and memoryless scheduling algorithm (including non-work-conserving algorithms), for any context, on identical multiprocessor platforms. By context we mean the hardware architecture (uniprocessor, multicore), as well as task constraints like critical sections, precedence constraints, self-suspension, etc. Since the result is based only on the releases and deadlines, it is independent from any other parameter. Note that we do not claim that the given interval is minimal, but it is an upper bound for any cycle of any feasible schedule provided by any deterministic and memoryless scheduler

Gang FTP scheduling of periodic and parallel rigid real-time tasks

In this paper we consider the scheduling of periodic and parallel rigid tasks. We provide (and prove correct) an exact schedulability test for Fixed Task Priority (FTP) Gang scheduler sub-classes: Parallelism Monotonic, Idling, Limited Gang, and Limited Slack Reclaiming. Additionally, we study the predictability of our schedulers: we show that Gang FJP schedulers are not predictable and we identify several sub-classes which are actually predictable. Moreover, we extend the definition of rigid, moldable and malleable jobs to recurrent tasks

On the compatibility of exact schedulability tests for global fixed priority pre-emptive scheduling with Audsley’s optimal priority assignment algorithm

Audsley's optimal priority assignment (OPA) algorithm can be applied to multiprocessor scheduling provided that three conditions hold with respect to the schedulability tests used. In this short paper, we prove that no exact test for global fixed priority pre-emptive scheduling of sporadic tasks can be compatible with Audsley's algorithm, and hence the OPA algorithm cannot be used to obtain an optimal priority assignment for such systems

Schedulability analysis of global scheduling algorithms on multiprocessor platforms

This paper addresses the schedulability problem of periodic and sporadic real-time task sets with constrained deadlines preemptively scheduled on a multiprocessor platform composed by identical processors. We assume that a global work-conserving scheduler is used and migration from one processor to another is allowed during a task lifetime. First, a general method to derive schedulability conditions for multiprocessor real-time systems will be presented. The analysis will be applied to two typical scheduling algorithms: earliest deadline first (EDF) and fixed priority (FP). Then, the derived schedulability conditions will be tightened, refining the analysis with a simple and effective technique that significantly improves the percentage of accepted task sets. The effectiveness of the proposed test is shown through an extensive set of synthetic experiments