In this paper two scheduling models are addressed. First is the standard model (unicast) where requests (or jobs) are independent. The other is the broadcast model where broadcasting a page can satisfy multiple outstanding requests for that page. We consider online scheduling of requests when they have deadlines. Unlike previous models, which mainly consider the objective of maximizing throughput while respecting deadlines, here we focus on scheduling all the given requests with the goal of minimizing the maximum {\em delay factor}.We prove strong lower bounds on the achievable competitive ratios for delay factor scheduling even with unit-time requests.For the unicast model we give algorithms that are $(1 + \eps)$-speed $O({1 \over \eps})$-competitive in both the single machine and multiple machine settings. In the broadcast model we give an algorithm for similar-sized pages that is $(2+ \eps)$-speed $O({1 \over \eps^2})$-competitive. For arbitrary page sizes we give an algorithm that is $(4+\eps)$-speed $O({1 \over \eps^2})$-competitive.
Given n jobs with release dates, deadlines and processing times we consider the problem of scheduling them on m parallel machines so as to minimize the total energy consumed. Machines can enter a sleep state and they consume no energy in this state. Each machine requires Q units of energy to awaken from the sleep state and in its active state the machine can process jobs and consumes a unit of energy per unit time. We allow for preemption and migration of jobs and provide the first constant approximation algorithm for this problem.
In the scheduling with non-uniform communication delay problem, the input is a set of jobs with precedence constraints. Associated with every precedence constraint between a pair of jobs is a communication delay, the time duration the scheduler has to wait between the two jobs if they are scheduled on different machines. The objective is to assign the jobs to machines to minimize the makespan of the schedule. Despite being a fundamental problem in theory and a consequential problem in practice, the approximability of scheduling problems with communication delays is not very well understood. On…
We consider the class of single machine scheduling problems with the objective to minimize the weighted number of late jobs, under the assumption that completion due-dates are not known precisely at the time when decision-maker must provide a schedule. It is assumed that only the intervals to which the due-dates belong are known. The concept of maximum regret is used to define robust solution. A polynomial time algorithm is given for the case when weights of jobs are all equal. A mixed-integer linear programming formulation is provided for the general case, and computational experiments are re…
In this paper we initiate the study of minimizing power consumption in the broadcast scheduling model. In this setting there is a wireless transmitter. Over time requests arrive at the transmitter for pages of information. Multiple requests may be for the same page. When a page is transmitted, all requests for that page receive the transmission simulteneously. The speed the transmitter sends data at can be dynamically scaled to conserve energy. We consider the problem of minimizing flow time plus energy, the most popular scheduling metric considered in the standard scheduling model when the sc…
We study the problem of preemptive scheduling of n equal-length jobs with given release times on m identical parallel machines. The objective is to minimize the average flow time. Recently, Brucker and Kravchenko proved that the optimal schedule can be computed in polynomial time by solving a linear program with O(n^3) variables and constraints, followed by some substantial post-processing (where n is the number of jobs.) In this note we describe a simple linear program with only O(mn) variables and constraints. Our linear program produces directly the optimal schedule and does not require any…
We study the problem of buffer management in QoS-enabled network switches in the bounded delay model where each packet is associated with a weight and a deadline. We consider the more realistic situation where the network switch has a finite buffer size. A 9.82-competitive algorithm is known for the case of multiple buffers (Azar and Levy, SWAT'06). Recently, for the case of a single buffer, a 3-competitive deterministic algorithm and a 2.618-competitive randomized algorithm was known (Li, INFOCOM'09). In this paper we give a simple deterministic 2-competitive algorithm for the case of a singl…
We study the problem of scheduling precedence-constrained jobs on heterogenous machines in the presence of non-uniform job and machine communication delays. We are given as input $n$ unit size precedence-ordered jobs and $m$ related machines such that machine $i$ can execute up to $m_i$ jobs at a time. Each machine $i$ has an in-delay $ρ^{\mathrm{in}}_i$ and out-delay $ρ^{\mathrm{out}}_i$. Likewise, each job $v$ has an in-delay $ρ^{\mathrm{in}}_v$ and out-delay $ρ^{\mathrm{out}}_v$. In a schedule, job $v$ may be executed on machine $i$ at time $t$ if each predecessor $u$ of $v$ is completed on…
We consider the classic problem of scheduling jobs with precedence constraints on identical machines to minimize makespan, in the presence of communication delays. In this setting, denoted by $\mathsf{P} \mid \mathsf{prec}, c \mid C_{\mathsf{max}}$, if two dependent jobs are scheduled on different machines, then at least $c$ units of time must pass between their executions. Despite its relevance to many applications, this model remains one of the most poorly understood in scheduling theory. Even for a special case where an unlimited number of machines is available, the best known approximation…
We consider the problem of efficiently scheduling jobs with precedence constraints on a set of identical machines in the presence of a uniform communication delay. Such precedence-constrained jobs can be modeled as a directed acyclic graph, $G = (V, E)$. In this setting, if two precedence-constrained jobs $u$ and $v$, with $v$ dependent on $u$ ($u \prec v$), are scheduled on different machines, then $v$ must start at least $ρ$ time units after $u$ completes. The scheduling objective is to minimize makespan, i.e. the total time from when the first job starts to when the last job finishes. The f…
We study the online scheduling problem where the machines need to be calibrated before processing any jobs. To calibrate a machine, it will take $λ$ time steps as the activation time, and then the machine will remain calibrated status for $T$ time steps. The job can only be processed by the machine that is in calibrated status. Given a set of jobs arriving online, each of the jobs is characterized by a release time, a processing time, and a deadline. We assume that there is an infinite number of machines for usage. The objective is to minimize the total number of calibrations while feasibly sc…
We study approximation algorithms for scheduling problems with the objective of minimizing total weighted completion time, under identical and related machine models with job precedence constraints. We give algorithms that improve upon many previous 15 to 20-year-old state-of-art results. A major theme in these results is the use of time-indexed linear programming relaxations. These are natural relaxations for their respective problems, but surprisingly are not studied in the literature. We also consider the scheduling problem of minimizing total weighted completion time on unrelated machines.…
We consider online algorithms for pull-based broadcast scheduling. In this setting there are n pages of information at a server and requests for pages arrive online. When the server serves (broadcasts) a page p, all outstanding requests for that page are satisfied. We study two related metrics, namely maximum response time (waiting time) and maximum delay-factor and their weighted versions. We obtain the following results in the worst-case online competitive model. - We show that FIFO (first-in first-out) is 2-competitive even when the page sizes are different. Previously this was known only f…
In this paper, we introduce a new online scheduling framework for minimizing total weighted completion time in a general setting. The framework is inspired by the work of Hall et al. [Mathematics of Operations Research, Vol 22(3):513-544, 1997] and Garg et al. [Proc. of Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science, pp. 96-107, 2007], who show how to convert an offline approximation to an online scheme. Our framework uses two offline approximation algorithms (one for the simpler problem of scheduling without release times, and another for the minimum unscheduled weight pr…
Efficient Approximation Algorithms for Scheduling Coflows with Precedence Constraints in Identical Parallel Networks to Minimize Weighted Completion Time
We study the online bounded-delay packet scheduling problem (BDPS), where packets of unit size arrive at a router over time and need to be transmitted over a network link. Each packet has two attributes: a non-negative weight and a deadline for its transmission. The objective is to maximize the total weight of the transmitted packets. This problem has been well studied in the literature, yet its optimal competitive ratio remains unknown: the best upper bound is $1.828$, still quite far from the best lower bound of $ϕ\approx 1.618$. In the variant of BDPS with $s$-bounded instances, each packet…
We consider the problem of scheduling $n$ precedence-constrained jobs on $m$ uniformly-related machines in the presence of an arbitrary, fixed communication delay $ρ$. We consider a model that allows job duplication, i.e. processing of the same job on multiple machines, which, as we show, can reduce the length of a schedule (i.e., its makespan) by a logarithmic factor. Our main result is an $O(\log m \log ρ/ \log \log ρ)$-approximation algorithm for minimizing makespan, assuming the minimum makespan is at least $ρ$. Our algorithm is based on rounding a linear programming relaxation for the pro…
Wilson et al. propose a measure of flexibility in project scheduling problems and propose several ways of distributing flexibility over tasks without overrunning the deadline. These schedules prove quite robust: delays of some tasks do not necessarily lead to delays of subsequent tasks. The number of tasks that finish late depends, among others, on the way of distributing flexibility. In this paper I study the different flexibility distributions proposed by Wilson et al. and the differences in number of violations (tasks that finish too late). I show one factor in the instances that causes dif…
This paper proposes a new formulation for the school bus scheduling problem (SBSP) which optimizes school start times and bus operation times to minimize transportation cost. Our goal is to minimize the number of buses to serve all bus routes such that each route arrives in a time window before school starts. We present a new time-indexed integer linear programming (ILP) formulation for this problem. Based on a strengthened version of the linear relaxation of the ILP, we develop a dependent randomized rounding algorithm that yields near-optimal solutions for large-scale problem instances. We a…
We give a prompt online mechanism for minimizing the sum of [weighted] completion times. This is the first prompt online algorithm for the problem. When such jobs are strategic agents, delaying scheduling decisions makes little sense. Moreover, the mechanism has a particularly simple form of an anonymous menu of options.
In many professional sports leagues, teams from opposing leagues/conferences compete against one another, playing inter-league games. This is an example of a bipartite tournament. In this paper, we consider the problem of reducing the total travel distance of bipartite tournaments, by analyzing inter-league scheduling from the perspective of discrete optimization. This research has natural applications to sports scheduling, especially for leagues such as the National Basketball Association (NBA) where teams must travel long distances across North America to play all their games, thus consuming…
We consider the problem of scheduling a set of $n$ tasks on $m$ processors under precedence, communication, and global system energy constraints to minimize makespan. We extend existing scheduling models to account for energy usage and give convex programming algorithms that yield essentially the same results as existing algorithms that do not consider energy, while adhering to a strict energy bound.
