Task Scheduling For Multiprocessor Systems Using Memetic Algorithms

In multiprocessor systems, an efficient scheduling of a parallel program onto the processors that minimizes the entire execution time is vital for achieving a high performance. The problem of multiprocessor scheduling can be stated as finding a schedule for a general task graph to be executed on a multiprocessor system so that the schedule length can be minimize. This scheduling problem is known to be NPHard. In multiprocessor scheduling problem, a given program is to be scheduled in a given multiprocessor system such that the program’s execution time is minimized. The objective is makespan minimization, i.e. we want the last job to complete as early as possible. The tasks scheduling problem is a key factor for a parallel multiprocessor system to gain better performance. A task can be partitioned into a group of subtasks and represented as a DAG ( Directed Acyclic Graph), so the problem can be stated as finding a schedule for a DAG to be executed in a parallel multiprocessor system so that the schedule can e minimized. This helps to reduce processing time and increase processor utilization. Genetic algorithm (GA) is one of the widely used technique for this optimization. But there are some shortcomings which can be reduced by using GA with another optimization technique, such as simulated annealing (SA). This combination of GA and SA is called memetic algorithms. This paper proposes a new algorithm by using this memetic algorithm technique. Key-Words:Task Scheduling, Genetic Algorithm (GA), Simulated Annealing (SA), Memetic Algorithms, Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)