Divisible Load Scheduling: An Approach Using Coalitional Games

Scheduling divisible loads in distributed systems is the subject of divisible load theory (DLT). In this paper we show that coalitional game theory is a natural fit for modeling DLT as the participants in the scheduling algorithm must cooperate in order to execute a job. We devise a coalitional scheduling game in which the job owners and the independent organizations that own processors form coalitions in order to maximize their profits. We examine the payoffs to the participants and show that the core of the proposed coalitional scheduling game is non-empty. Then we examine the "fair sharing" of the payoffs among the participants using the Shapley value. Finally we study by simulation the properties of the proposed coalitional scheduling game considering different distributed systems configurations.