Optimal on-line flow time with resource augmentation

AbstractWe study the problem of scheduling n jobs that arrive over time. We consider a non-preemptive setting on a single machine. The goal is to minimize the total flow time. We use extra resource competitive analysis: an optimal off-line algorithm which schedules jobs on a single machine is compared to a more powerful on-line algorithm that has ℓ machines. We design an algorithm of competitive ratio 1+2min(Δ1/ℓ,n1/ℓ), where Δ is the maximum ratio between two job sizes, and provide a lower bound which shows that the algorithm is optimal up to a constant factor for any constant ℓ. The algorithm works for a hard version of the problem where the sizes of the smallest and the largest jobs are not known in advance, only Δ and n are known. This gives a trade-off between the resource augmentation and the competitive ratio.We also consider scheduling on parallel identical machines. In this case the optimal off-line algorithm has m machines and the on-line algorithm has ℓm machines. We give a lower bound for this case. Next, we give lower bounds for algorithms using resource augmentation on the speed. Finally, we consider scheduling with hard deadlines, and scheduling so as to minimize the total completion time

New results on flow time with resource augmentation

We study the problem of scheduling $n$ jobs that arrive over time. We consider a non-preemptive setting on a single machine. The goal is to minimize the total flow time. We use extra resource competitive analysis: an optimal off-line algorithm which schedules jobs on a single machine is compared to a more powerful on-line algorithm that has $l$ machines. We design an algorithm of competitive ratio O(min(Delta^{1/l,n^{1/l)), where $Delta$ is the maximum ratio between two job sizes, and provide a lower bound which shows that the algorithm is optimal up to a constant factor for any constant $l$. The algorithm works for a hard version of the problem where the sizes of the smallest and the largest jobs are not known in advance, only $Delta$ is known. This gives a trade-off between the resource augmentation and the competitive ratio. We also consider scheduling on parallel identical machines. In this case the optimal off-line algorithm has $m$ machines and the on-line algorithm has $lm$ machines. We give a lower bound for this case. Next, we give lower bounds for algorithms using resource augmentation on the speed. Finally, we consider scheduling with hard deadlines

Some combinational optimization problems on radio network communication and machine scheduling

The combinatorial optimization problems coming from two areas are studied in this dissertation: network communication and machine scheduling. In the network communication area, the complexity of distributed broadcasting and distributed gossiping is studied in the setting of random networks. Two different models are considered: one is random geometric networks, the main model used to study properties of sensor and ad-hoc networks, where ri points are randomly placed in a unit square and two points are connected by an edge if they are at most a certain fixed distance r from each other. The other model is the so-called line-of-sight networks, a new network model introduced recently by Frieze et al. (SODA\u2707). The nodes in this model are randomly placed (with probability p) on an n x n grid and a node can communicate with all the nodes that are in at most a certain fixed distance r and which are in the same row or column. It can be shown that in many scenarios of both models, the random structure of these networks makes it possible to perform distributed gossiping in asymptotically optimal time 0(D), where D is the diameter of the network. The simulation results show that most algorithms especially the randomized algorithm works very fast in practice. In the scheduling area, the first problem is online scheduling a set of equal processing time tasks with precedence constraints so as to minimize the makespan. It can be shown that Hu \u27s algorithm yields an asymptotic competitive ratio of 3/2 for intree precedence constraints and an asymptotic competitive ratio of 1 for outtree precedences, and Coffinan-Graham algorithm yields an asymptotic competitive ratio of 1 for arbitrary precedence constraints and two machines.The second scheduling problem is the integrated production and delivery scheduling with disjoint windows. In this problem, each job is associated with a time window, and a profit. A job must be finished within its time window to get the profit. The objective is to pick a set ofjobs and schedule them to get the maximum total profit. For a single machine and unit profit, an optimal algorithm is proposed. For a single machine and arbitrary profit, a fully polynomial time approximation scheme(FPTAS) is proposed. These algorithms can be extended to multiple machines with approximation ratio less than e/(e - 1). The third scheduling problem studied in this dissertation is the preemptive scheduling algorithms with nested and inclusive processing set restrictions. The objective is to minimize the makespan of the schedule. It can be shown that there is no optimal online algorithm even for the case of inclusive processing set. Then a linear time optimal algorithm is given for the case of nested processing set, where all jobs are available for processing at time t = 0. A more complicated algorithm with running time 0(n log ri) is given that produces not only optimal but also maximal schedules. When jobs have different release times, an optimal algorithm is given for the nested case and a faster optimal algorithm is given for the inclusive processing set case

Any-Order Online Interval Selection

We consider the problem of online interval scheduling on a single machine, where intervals arrive online in an order chosen by an adversary, and the algorithm must output a set of non-conflicting intervals. Traditionally in scheduling theory, it is assumed that intervals arrive in order of increasing start times. We drop that assumption and allow for intervals to arrive in any possible order. We call this variant any-order interval selection (AOIS). We assume that some online acceptances can be revoked, but a feasible solution must always be maintained. For unweighted intervals and deterministic algorithms, this problem is unbounded. Under the assumption that there are at most $k$ different interval lengths, we give a simple algorithm that achieves a competitive ratio of $2k$ and show that it is optimal amongst deterministic algorithms, and a restricted class of randomized algorithms we call memoryless, contributing to an open question by Adler and Azar 2003; namely whether a randomized algorithm without access to history can achieve a constant competitive ratio. We connect our model to the problem of call control on the line, and show how the algorithms of Garay et al. 1997 can be applied to our setting, resulting in an optimal algorithm for the case of proportional weights. We also discuss the case of intervals with arbitrary weights, and show how to convert the single-length algorithm of Fung et al. 2014 into a classify and randomly select algorithm that achieves a competitive ratio of 2k. Finally, we consider the case of intervals arriving in a random order, and show that for single-lengthed instances, a one-directional algorithm (i.e. replacing intervals in one direction), is the only deterministic memoryless algorithm that can possibly benefit from random arrivals. Finally, we briefly discuss the case of intervals with arbitrary weights.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figure

Single-machine scheduling with stepwise tardiness costs and release times

We study a scheduling problem that belongs to the yard operations component of the railroad planning problems, namely the hump sequencing problem. The scheduling problem is characterized as a single-machine problem with stepwise tardiness cost objectives. This is a new scheduling criterion which is also relevant in the context of traditional machine scheduling problems. We produce complexity results that characterize some cases of the problem as pseudo-polynomially solvable. For the difficult-to-solve cases of the problem, we develop mathematical programming formulations, and propose heuristic algorithms. We test the formulations and heuristic algorithms on randomly generated single-machine scheduling problems and real-life datasets for the hump sequencing problem. Our experiments show promising results for both sets of problems

Efficient Task Replication for Fast Response Times in Parallel Computation

One typical use case of large-scale distributed computing in data centers is to decompose a computation job into many independent tasks and run them in parallel on different machines, sometimes known as the "embarrassingly parallel" computation. For this type of computation, one challenge is that the time to execute a task for each machine is inherently variable, and the overall response time is constrained by the execution time of the slowest machine. To address this issue, system designers introduce task replication, which sends the same task to multiple machines, and obtains result from the machine that finishes first. While task replication reduces response time, it usually increases resource usage. In this work, we propose a theoretical framework to analyze the trade-off between response time and resource usage. We show that, while in general, there is a tension between response time and resource usage, there exist scenarios where replicating tasks judiciously reduces completion time and resource usage simultaneously. Given the execution time distribution for machines, we investigate the conditions for a scheduling policy to achieve optimal performance trade-off, and propose efficient algorithms to search for optimal or near-optimal scheduling policies. Our analysis gives insights on when and why replication helps, which can be used to guide scheduler design in large-scale distributed computing systems.Comment: Extended version of the 2-page paper accepted to ACM SIGMETRICS 201