Soft real-time scheduling on simultaneous multithreaded processors

Simultaneous multithreading (SMT) improves processor throughput by processing instructions from multiple threads each cycle. This is the first work to explore soft real-time scheduling on an SMT processor. Scheduling with SMT requires two decisions: (1) which threads to run simultaneously (the co-schedule), and (2) how to share processor resources among co-scheduled threads. We explore algorithms for both decisions for soft-real time multimedia applications, focusing more on co-schedule selection. We examine previous multiprocessor co-scheduling algorithms, including partitioning and global scheduling. We propose new variations that consider resource sharing and try to utilize SMT more effectively by exploiting application symbiosis. We find (using simulation) that the best algorithm uses global scheduling, exploits symbiosis, prioritizes high utilization tasks, and uses dynamic resource sharing. This algorithm, however, imposes significant profiling overhead and does not provide admission control. We propose alternatives to overcome these limitations, but at the cost of schedulability.