Near optimal algorithms for scheduling independent chains in BSP

The aim of this work is to show that scheduling a set of independent chains on a parallel machine under the BSP model is a difficult optimization problem which can be easily approximated in practice. BSP is a machine independent computational model which is becoming more and more popular. Finding the optimal solution when the number of processors is fixed is shown to be hard. Efficient heuristics including communications are proposed and analyzed. We particularly focus on the influence of synchronization between consecutive supersteps. Simulations of a large number of instances have been carried out to complement the theoretical worst case analysis. They confirm the very good behaviour of the algorithm on average