Extra processors versus future information in optimal deadline scheduling

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the design of online scheduling algorithms that exploit extra resources. In particular, it studies how to make use of multiple processors to counteract the lack of future information in online deadline scheduling. Our results extend the previous work that are primarily based on using a faster processor to obtain a performance guarantee. The challenge arises from the fact that jobs are sequential in nature and cannot be executed on more than one processor at the same time. Thus, a faster processor can speed up a job while multiple unit-speed processors cannot.