Analysis of dataflow diagrams by neural network

Abstract

Given a hardware configuration with a number of processors and a dataflow diagram, one wishes to determine the best way to assign processors to the processes so that the total amount of time needed to complete an algorithm is at a minimum. General algorithm for solving such a problem does not exist. This paper presents a heuristic method which allows use to be made of neural networks to arrange the processes in a definite order. At any time during the execution, processes in the list can be classified into three types of status: 'done', 'ready' and 'waiting'. Whenever a processor has completed its task, it marks the completed process as 'done', check to see if any of the waiting processes can be elevated to 'ready' status, and picks the next ready process in the list for execution. This is repeated until all processes in the list are marked 'done'.