Fine grain scheduler for shared-memory multiprocessor systems

Abstract

The Tatung fine grain scheduler (TFGS), which works on machine instruction level for multiprocessor systems, is described. The object of TFGS is to minimise the total execution time of an application program that is to be executed on a shared memory multiprocessor system. An application program is compiled to generate intermediate code. This code is then represented by a data/control dependence graph, a branch nest tree and a priority list. The data dependence between operations, the pipeline effect of each processing element, and branches in the application programs are considered when TFGS does the scheduling task. The multiprocessor system is assumed to be interconnected by a shared memory. The hardware support of shared memory is designed. To process branches and loops within the application program, a status recording mechanism is proposed. The hardware has been designed and simulated. TFGS has been implemented, and some application programs have been used as the testing inputs. The results are very encouraging.