THE UNIVERSITY
of TEHRAN
Mitra Nasri
Sanjoy Baruah
Gerhard Fohler
October 2014
Mehdi Kargahi

Benefits
◦ No context switches
◦ Cache and pipelines are not affected by other tasks
 More precise estimation of WCET
◦ Simpler mechanisms to protect critical sections

In some systems, preemption is either not allowed or too
expensive
Benefits from the application’s point of view
Minimum I/O delay
(the delays between sampling and actuation)
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
Non-Preemptive Scheduling is NP-Hard
◦ For Periodic Tasks [Jeffay 1991]
◦ For Harmonic Tasks [Cai 1996]
◦ For Harmonic Tasks with Binary Period Ratio [Nawrocki 1998]
ki = {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, …}
τi
τi -1
Ti
Period Ratio
Ti -1
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
Schedulability test for npEDF, npRM, and Fixed Priority
◦ [Kim 1980, Jeffay 1991, George 1996, Park 2007, Andersson 2009, Marouf
2010,…]

Heuristic scheduling algorithms
◦ Clairvoyant EDF [Ekelin 2006], Group-Based EDF [Li 2007]

Optimal scheduling algorithms for special cases
◦ [Deogun 1986, Cai 1996, Nasri 2014]
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
[Deogun 1986]: An optimal algorithm if tasks have
◦ Constant integer period ratio K ≥ 3

An optimal scheduling algorithm is the one
which
guarantees
all ifdeadlines
[Cai 1996]:
An optimal
algorithm
tasks have whenever a
◦ Constant
period ratio
K = 2, orexists
feasible
schedule
Period Ratio
◦ Integer period ratio ki ≥ 3

Limitations


Linear time in the number of jobs, exponential time in the number
of tasks!
Constructs an offline time table with exponential number of entries
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
Precautious-RM [Nasri 2014] is optimal if tasks have
◦ Constant period ratio K = 2
◦ Integer period ratio ki ≥ 3
◦ Arbitrary integer period ratio ki ≥ 1 and enough vacant
intervals

Precautious-RM is online and has O(n) computational and
memory complexity (in the number of tasks)
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
We study
◦ The existence of a utilization-based test
◦ The pessimism in the existing necessary and sufficient test
◦ The efficiency of the recent processor speedup approach

Then for special cases of harmonic tasks we present
◦ The schedulability conditions
◦ A more efficient speedup factor
On the Optimality
of RM
and EDF
A Framework
to Construct
Customized
for Harmonic
Non-preemptive
PeriodsHarmonic
for RTS Tasks
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
Task set τ = {τ1, τ2, …, τn}
Ti is the period of τi
ci is the WCET of τi
ki is the period ratio of τi to τi-1

Deadlines are implicit; Di = Ti



τi
τi -1
Ti
Period Ratio
Ti -1
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
Is it possible to have a utilization-based test for
non-preemptive scheduling of periodic tasks?
[Liu 1973]
EDF
[Bini 2003]
RM
(Hyperbolic Bound)
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
Utilization of a non-preemptive task set which cannot be scheduled by
any clairvoyant scheduling algorithm, can be arbitrarily close to zero.
2
τ2:(2, 1/ε )
τ1:(ε, 1)
ε ~0 ⇒ U~0
1/ε
ε
missed
…
1
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
It is impossible to find any relation between utilizations such that if it
holds, schedulability of any scheduling algorithm is guaranteed.
We build an infeasible task set with those utilizations
At least one
deadline miss
cn = 2(T1-cr) +ε
τn
c1 + c2 + … + cn-1
c1 + c2 + … + cn-1
τ1 to τn-1
…
…
T1-cr T1-cr +ε
τ1 to τn-1 :
T1 = T1 = … = Tn-1 = an arbitrary value
c1 = u1T1, c2 = u2T2, … , cn-1 = un-1Tn-1
τn:
cn = 2(T1-cr)+ ε
Tn = cn/un
On the
cr =Optimality
c1 + c2 +of…RM+ and
cn-1 EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
11 of 29

[Jeffay 1991]: Necessary and sufficient conditions for the
schedulability of periodic tasks with unknown release
offsets (with npEDF):
(for npEDF)
Yes!
Does it provide necessary
conditions for task sets
with known release offset?
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
For task sets with no or known release offset, Jeffay’s conditions are only
sufficient.
This task set is feasible by npEDF,
but it is rejected in Jeffay’s test
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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ci
τi
τi
ci/S
Ti
…
Processor
with speed 1
…
Processor
with speed S
[Thekkilakattil 2013]
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
The speed S that guarantees the feasibility of a non-preemptive execution
of a harmonic task set is upper bounded by

The proof can be done by finding the bound on the maximum possible
execution time of a non-preemptive task!
S≤8
It may reduce U=1 to U’=0.125
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On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
Can we find cases where npEDF and
npRM are optimal?

Can we find better speedup factor?
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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Schedulable!
Non-Schedulable!
What if the execution times are limited to ci ≤ T1 – c1?
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On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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


If we have U ≤ 1 and ci ≤T1 – c1 can we guarantee
schedulability?
Intuition: maximum blocking will be bounded to T1 – c1
Is it enough?
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
npRM and npEDF are not optimal for harmonic tasks with
U ≤ 1 and ci ≤T1 – c1
This task set is infeasible
The relation between periods cannot be ignored easily!
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
We can count the vacant intervals
to make sure each task has its own
place to be scheduled!
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
A vacant interval is constructed by the slack of τ1

The number of vacant intervals is defined as
c3 = T1 – c1
τ3
c2 = T1 – c1
τ2
τ1
V3 = 2
V2 = 3
c1
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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



npRM and npEDF have no deadline miss if in the harmonic task set we have
U ≤1
ci ≤T1 – c1
Vi ≥ 1, 1 < i < n; and Vn ≥ 0
τi
…
ci = T1 – c1
τ1
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…
c3 = T1 – c1
τ3
τ2
ki > 1
c2 = T1 – c1
c1
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
npEDF and npRM guarantee schedulability if
ci ≤T1 – c1 and ki > 1, or
ci ≤T1 – c1 and Vi ≥ 1

[Deogun 1986]
ci ≤ 2(T1 – c1) and K ≥ 3

[Cai 1996]
ci ≤ 2(T1 – c1) and K = 2 or ki
≥3
S is bounded to 2
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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npEDF and npRM with
speedup factor 2 are optimal
for task sets with enough vacant interval or
integer period ratio greater than 1
In ECRTS 2014, we have introduced a framework
to construct customized harmonic periods.
On the Optimality
of RM
and EDF
It can be used to increase the applicability
of our
results.
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
25
25ofof29
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





Non-preemptive RM (npRM)
Precautious-RM (pRM) [Nasri 2014]
Cai’s Algorithm (GSSP) [Cai 1996]
Group-Based EDF (gEDF) [Li 2007]
npEDF + Speedup Factor of [Thekkilakattil 2013]
(TSP-EDF)
npEDF + Our Speedup Factor (OSP-EDF)
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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Task sets
ci ≤ 2(T1 – c1)
Vi ≥ 1
ki ∊ {1, 2, …, 6}
Parameter: u1 from 0.1 to 0.9

OSP-EDF, TSP-EDF, and
Precautious-RM have no
misses.

gEDF has the highest amount
of miss ratio. In this case, it is
worse than npRM.

The goal is to show the
efficiency of the speedup of
TSP- and OSP-EDF.
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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Negative Results
Non-existence of any
utilization-based test
npEDF
npRM
Pessimism in the existing test
For tasks with known release time
Inefficiency of the recent processor speedup approach
for many cases of harmonic tasks
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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New Results
Schedulability conditions
with limited execution time
npEDF
npRM
Extending those conditions
to task sets with ki > 1
Deriving more efficient speedup factor
when the execution time is not limited
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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Thank you
On the Optimality
of RM
and EDF
A Framework
to Construct
Customized
for Harmonic
Non-preemptive
PeriodsHarmonic
for RTS Tasks
30 of 25
29

The speedup factor that guarantees feasibility of npRM and
npEDF for task sets with U ≤ 1 and ci ≤ 2(T1 – c1) and
Vi ≥ 1 (for 1 < i < n), and Vn ≥ 0 is bounded to
S is bounded to 2
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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

U ≤1
ci ≤ 2(T1 – c1)
We call it the Slack Rule
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
We can use a sort of packing in the tasks so that in the formula,
each vacant interval can be occupied by different subset of tasks.
c2 + c5 + … + c j
τ2 , τ5 , … , τj
…
c1
T2
…
…
τ1
T1- c1

We might be able to show that the problem of finding the
minimum number of Vis is NP-Complete because it can reduces
to subset sum problem.
On the Optimality
of RM
and EDF
A Framework
to Construct
Customized
for Harmonic
Non-preemptive
PeriodsHarmonic
for RTS Tasks
33 of 25
29


[Kim 1980]: Exact schedulability analysis for npEDF
[Jeffay 1991]:
◦ Necessary and sufficient conditions for schedulability of
npEDF for periodic tasks with unknown release phase
◦ npEDF is optimal among non-work conserving algorithms

[George 1996, Park 2007, Andersson 2009]: Sufficient

conditions for RM and FP algorithms
[Marouf 2010]: Schedulability analysis for strictly periodic
tasks
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
Clairvoyant EDF [Ekelin 2006]
◦ It looks ahead in the schedule and tries to …
◦ Not optimal

Group-Based EDF [Li 2007]
◦ Creates groups of tasks with close deadlines
◦ Selects a task with the shortest execution time from a group with the
earliest deadline
◦ Efficient for soft real-time tasks
◦ Not optimal
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
General task sets with limited execution time
◦ ci ≤ 2(T1 – c1 )
◦ ki ∊ {1, 2, …, 6}
◦ Parameter: U from 0.1 to 0.9
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
TSP-EDF is only optimal
algorithm (it uses S ≤ 8).

OSP-EDF has in average only
1% miss ratio, however, it
cannot guarantee
schedulability because of
not having Vi ≥ 1 condition.

Precautious-RM is very
efficient among other
algorithms, yet it is not
optimal.

Note: some of those task
sets are infeasible.
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
General task sets
◦ ki ∊ {1, 2, …, 6}
◦ Parameter: U from 0.1 to 0.9

(with uUniFast)
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
38 of 29

TSP-EDF is only optimal
algorithm (it uses speedup).

OSP-EDF has in average only
0.02 miss ratio, however, it
cannot guarantee
schedulability

Precautious-RM is very
efficient among other
algorithms, yet it is not
optimal.

Note: many of those task
sets are infeasible.
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
Feasible task sets
◦
◦
◦
◦
ci ≤ T1 – c1
Vi ≥ 1
ki ∊ {1, 2, …, 6}
Parameter: u1 from 0.1 to 0.9
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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
gEDF has a lot of misses.

GSSP cannot handle ki =1

Others have no misses

Before u1=0.5, Cmax is usually
from other tasks, after that c1
becomes larger than others
[Thekkilakattil 1013]
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
41 of 29


The speed S that guarantees the feasibility of a non-preemptive execution
of a harmonic task set is upper bounded by
For the proof we use necessary condition ci ≤ 2(T1 – c1),
thus:
◦ Cmax is either 2(T1 – c1) or c1
◦ Dmin is T1
S≤8
It may reduce U=1 to U’=0.125
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
42 of 29

npRM and npEDF are identical if the period is the tie breaker (for npEDF)
RM and EDF are also identical
From now on, any result for npRM is applicable on npEDF as well
On the Optimality of RM and EDF
for Non-preemptive Harmonic Tasks
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