On approximation of the bulk synchronous task scheduling problem
The bulk synchronous task scheduling problem (BSSPO) is known as an effective task scheduling problem for distributed-memory machines. This paper presents a proof of NP-completeness of the decision counterpart of BSSPO, even in the case of makespan of at most five. This implies nonapproximability of BSSPO, meaning that there is no approximation algorithm with performance guarantee smaller than 6/5 unless P = NP. This paper also gives an approximation algorithm, with a performance guarantee of two for BSSPO in several restricted cases.
approximation task scheduling np-complete nonapproximability distributed memory fine grain software overhead message packaging bulk synchronous schedule