Wait-free synchronization in quantum-based multiprogrammed systems

Abstract

We consider wait-free synchronization in multiprogrammed uniprocessor and multiprocessor systems in which the processes bound to each processor are scheduled for execution using a scheduling quantum. We show that, in such systems, any object with consensus number P in Herlihy's wait-free hierarchy is universal for any number of processes executing on P processors, provided the scheduling quantum is of a certain size. We give an asymptotically tight characterization of how large the scheduling quantum must be for this result to hold.

Work supported by NSF grants CCR 9510156 and CCR 9732916, and by a Young Investigator Award from the U.S. Army Research Office, grant number DAAH04-95-1-0323. The first author was also supported by an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship.