A Multiprocessor System with Non-Preemptive Earliest-Deadline-First Scheduling Policy: A Performability Study

This paper introduces an analytical method for approximating the performability of a firm realtime system modeled by a multi-server queue. The service discipline in the queue is earliestdeadline-first (EDF), which is an optimal scheduling algorithm. Real-time jobs with exponentially distributed relative deadlines arrive according to a Poisson process. All jobs have deadlines until the end of service and are served non-preemptively. An important performance measure to calculate is the loss probability. The performance of the system is approximated by a Markovian model in the long run. A key parameter, namely, the loss rate when there are n jobs in the system is used in the model, which is estimated by partitioning the system into two subsystems. The resulting model can then be solved analytically using standard Markovian solution techniques. The number of servers in the system may change due to failure or repair. The performability of the system is evaluated in the presence of such structural changes. The latter measure is approximated by a Markov reward model, considering the loss probability as the reward rate. Comparing numerical and simulation results, we find that the existing errors are relatively small.