A multiprocessor-oriented power-conscious scheduling algorithm for periodic tasks

With the rapid development of advanced technology in VLSI circuit designs, many processors could provide dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) to save power consumption when the supply voltage is allowed to be lower. In this paper, we propose a multiprocessor-oriented power-conscious scheduling algorithm for the real-time periodic tasks with task migration constrained scheme. We classify periodic tasks into fixed tasks and migration tasks, and limit the number of migration tasks and the number of destination processors which execute migration tasks. The proposed algorithm is made up of two steps. Firstly, choosing a processor to sort all of the periodic tasks in a non-increasing order according to task utilization, afterwards, allocating them to other processors. Secondly, scheduling the migration tasks with a virtual execution windows policy, and then scheduling the fixed tasks with EDF algorithm. The experiment results show that compared with arbitrary task migration policy and no task migration allowed policy, the power consumption in multiprocessor real-time periodic tasks scheduling is lowered significantly with the proposed algorithm.