The Proportional Coloring Problem: Optimizing Buffers in Radio Mesh Networks

International audienceIn this paper, we consider a new edge coloring problem to model call scheduling op- timization issues in wireless mesh networks: the proportional coloring. It consists in finding a minimum cost edge coloring of a graph which preserves the propor- tion given by the weights associated to each of its edges. We show that deciding if a weighted graph admits a proportional coloring is pseudo-polynomial while de- termining its proportional chromatic index is NP-hard. We then give lower and upper bounds for this parameter that can be computed in pseudo-polynomial time. We finally identify a class of graphs and a class of weighted graphs for which the proportional chromatic index can be exactly determined

Scheduling of unit-length jobs with bipartite incompatibility graphs on four uniform machines

In the paper we consider the problem of scheduling $n$ identical jobs on 4 uniform machines with speeds $s_1 \geq s_2 \geq s_3 \geq s_4,$ respectively. Our aim is to find a schedule with a minimum possible length. We assume that jobs are subject to some kind of mutual exclusion constraints modeled by a bipartite incompatibility graph of degree $\Delta$, where two incompatible jobs cannot be processed on the same machine. We show that the problem is NP-hard even if $s_1=s_2=s_3$. If, however, $\Delta \leq 4$ and $s_1 \geq 12 s_2$, $s_2=s_3=s_4$, then the problem can be solved to optimality in time $O(n^{1.5})$. The same algorithm returns a solution of value at most 2 times optimal provided that $s_1 \geq 2s_2$. Finally, we study the case $s_1 \geq s_2 \geq s_3=s_4$ and give an $O(n^{1.5})$-time $32/15$-approximation algorithm in all such situations