An inter-task real time DVFS scheme for multiprocessor embedded systems

Abstract

In this paper, we have addressed energy-efficient scheduling of real time applications intended to be executed on multiprocessor systems. Our proposed technique, called Deterministic Stretch-to-Fit (DSF) technique, is based on inter-task real time dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (RT-DVFS). It mainly comprises of three components. Firstly, we propose an online algorithm to reclaim energy by adapting to the variations in actual workload of target application tasks. Secondly, we extend our online algorithm with an adaptive and speculative speed adjustment mechanism. This mechanism anticipates early completion of future task instances based on the information of their average workload. Thirdly, we propose a one-task extension technique for multi-task multiprocessor systems. No real time constraints of target application are violated while applying our proposed technique. Simulation results show that our online slack reclamation algorithm alone gives up to 53% gains on energy consumption and our extended speculative speed adjustment mechanism, along with the one-task extension technique, gives additional gains, reaching a theoretical low-bound on the scalable frequency and voltage.