Task scheduling of control-data flow graphs for reconfigurable architectures

Task scheduling is an essential part of the design cycle of a reconfigurable hardware implementation for a given application. Most of the current multimedia applications provide a large amount of variations to users and hence are control dominated. To arrive at an optimal schedule for such applications would involve a highly complex scheduling algorithm. This paper proposes a low complexity scheduling algorithm that provides a near optimal solution. Existing approaches suggest that Branch and Bound method of scheduling gives the most optimal solution, but at the same time is highly complex. Our approach introduces the concept of an enhanced Partial Critical Path. Our scheduling algorithm generates near-optimal solution at O(n) complexity. Branch and Bound algorithm can be run selectively to approach optimality, thus reducing the overall complexity. Special cases involving loops have also been addressed. The effect of reconfiguration on the schedule has been analyzed and a solution has been proposed.