Module replication and assignment for real-time distributed processing systems

Response time is an important design criterion for real-time systems. A new analytic model is developed to estimate task response time. It considers such factors as interprocessor communication, module precedence relationship, module scheduling, interconnection network delay, and assignment of modules and files to computers. Since module assignment as well as its replication have great impact on task response time, a new algorithm is developed to iteratively search for module assignments and replications that reduce task response time. An objective function is introduced that is based on the sum of task response time and delay penalty for the violations of thread response time requirements. With this objective function, good module allocations and replications, which minimize task response time and yet satisfy the thread response time requirements, can be determined by the proposed algorithm. To validate the algorithm, we compare the assignments generated by the algorithm for some sample distributed systems to the optimal module assignments obtained from exhaustive search. It shows that with a very small number of initial module assignments, our algorithm is able to generate the optimal or close-to-optimal assignments. The algorithm is also applied to a real-time distributed system for space defense applications where exhaustive search for the optimal assignment is not feasible. The generated module assignments (with replications) satisfy the specified thread response times, and compare closely with the simulation results. A series of experiments is also performed to characterize the behavior of the algorithm. In conclusion, the algorithm can serve as a valuable tool for assigning modules with replications for distributed systems.