Static program decomposition among machines in an SIMD/SPMD heterogeneous environment with non-constant mode switching costs

The problem of minimizing the execution time of programs within a heterogeneous environment is considered. Different computational characteristics within a parallel algorithm may make switching execution from one machine to another beneficial; however, the cost of switching between machines during the execution of a program must be considered. This cost is not constant, but depends on data transfers needed as a result of the move. Therefore, determining a minimum-cost assignment of machines to program segments is not straightforward. A previously presented block-based mode selection (BBMS) approach is used as a basis to develop a heuristic method for assigning machines to program segments of data-parallel algorithms. Simulation results of parallel program behavior using the heuristic indicate that good assignments are possible without resorting to exhaustive search techniques