Abstract
In a system based on the imprecise-computation technique, each time-critical task is designed in such a way that it can produce a usable, approximate result in time whenever a failure or overload prevents it from producing the desired, precise result. This section describes ways to use this technique together with traditional fault-tolerance methods to reduce the costs of providing fault tolerance and enhanced availability. Specifically, an imprecise mechanism for the generation and use of approximate results can be integrated in a natural way with traditional checkpointing and replication mechanisms. Algorithms and process structures for this integration and rules for determining when approximate results can be used in place of the desired results are discussed.
This work was partially supported by the U. S. Navy ONR contracts No. NVY N00014 89-J-1181 and No. NVY N00014 89-J-1146.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Liu, J. W. S., K. J. Lin and C. L. Liu, “A position paper for the IEEE 1987 Workshop on Real-Time Operating Systems,” Cambridge, Mass, May, 1987.
Lin, K. J., S. Natarajan, J. W. S. Liu, “Imprecise results: utilizing partial computations in real-time systems,” Proceedings of the IEEE 8th Real-Time Systems Symposium, San Jose, California, December 1987.
Liu, J. W. S., S. Natarajan, and K. J. Lin, “Scheduling real-time, periodic jobs using imprecise results,” Proceedings of Eighth Real-Time Systems Symposium, pp. 252–260, San Jose, CA, December 1987.
Dean, T. and M. Boddy, “An analysis of time dependent planning,” Proceedings of Conference of the AAAI, 1988.
del Val, A., “Approximate belief update,” Proceedings of Workshop on Imprecise and Approximate Computations, Phoenix, Arizona, December 1993.
Decker, K., V. Lesser, and R. Whitehair, “Extending a blackboard architecture for approximate processing,” Real-Time Systems Journal, 2, 1990.
Leung, J. Y-T., T. W. Tam, C. S. Wong, and G. H. Wong, “Minimizing mean flow time with error constraints,” Proceedings of the 10th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, December 1989.
Chung, J. Y., J. W. S. Liu, and K. J. Lin, “Scheduling periodic jobs that allow imprecise results,” IEEE Transactions on Computer, Vol. 39,No. 9, pp. 1156–1174, September 1990.
Leung, J. Y-T. and C. S. Wong, “Minimizing the number of late tasks with error constraints,” Proceedings of the 11th Real-Time Systems Symposium, Orlando, Florida, December 1990.
Liu, J. W. S., K. J. Lin, W. K. Shih, A. C. Yu, J. Y. Chung, and W. Zhao, “Algorithms for scheduling imprecise computations,” IEEE Computer, pp. 58–68, May 1991.
Shih, W. K., J. W. S. Liu and J. Y. Chung, “Algorithms for scheduling tasks to minimize total error,” SIAM Journal of Computing, Vol. 20,No. 3, pp. 537–552, June 1991.
Zhao, W., S. Vrbsky and J. W. S. Liu, “An analytical model for multi-server imprecise systems”, Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing and Systems, Pittsburgh, PA, September 1992.
Ho, K. I. J., J. Y. T. Leung and W. D. Wei, “Minimizing maximum weighted error of imprecise computation tasks,” Technical Report, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Nebraska, 1992.
Ho, K. I, J., J. Y. T. Leung, and W. D. Wei, “Scheduling imprecise computation tasks with 0/1 constraints,” Technical Report, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Nebraska, 1992.
Shih, W. K. and J. W. S. Liu, “On-line scheduling of imprecise computations to minimize total error,” Proceedings of the 13th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, Phoenix, Arizona, pp. 280–289, December 1992.
Cheong, I., “Heuristic algorithms for scheduling error-cumulative, periodic jobs,” Ph.D. thesis, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois, January 1993.
Shih, W. K. and J. W. S. Liu, “Minimization of the maximum error of imprecise computations.” submitted.
Ho, K. I. J, V. K. M. Yu, and W. D. Wei, “Minimizing the weighted number of tardy tasks units,” to appear in Discrete Applied Math.
Obradovic, M. and P. Berman, “Voting as the optimal static pessimistic scheme for managing replicated data,” Proceedings of the 9th IEEE Symposium on Reliable Distributed Systems, October 1990.
Koo, B. and S. Toueg, “Checkpointing and rollback-recovery for distributed systems,” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, January 1987.
Wallace, G. K., “Overview of the JPEG (ISO/CCITT) still image compression standard,” Visual Communication and Image Processing,’ 89, SPIE, Philadelphia, November 1989.
Wood, J. and S. O’Neil, “Sub-band coding of images,” IEEE Transactions on Acoustic Speech Signal Communications, 34, October 1986.
Suzuki, J. and M. Taka, “Missing packet recovery techniques for low-bit-rate coded speech,” IEEE Journal of Selected Areas in Communications, 9(7), September 1991.
Buneman, P., S. Davidson, and A. Watters, “A semantics for complex objects and approximate queries,” Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium on the Principles of Database Systems, pp. 305–314, March 1988.
Vrbsky, S. and J. W. S. Liu, “Approximate: a monotone query processing,” em IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, October 1993.
Ada 9X Mapping, Version 3.1, Ada 9X Mapping/Revision Team, Intermetric, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., August 1991.
Liestman, A. L. and R. H. Campbell, “A fault-tolerant scheduling problem,” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. SE-12,No. 10., pp. 1089–1095, October 1986.
Gopinath, P. and R. Gupta, “Applying compiler techniques to scheduling in real-time systems,” Proceedings of the 11th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, Orlando, Florida, December 1990.
Kim, B. and D. Towsley, “Dynamic flow control protocols for packet-switching multiplexers serving real-time multipacket messages,” IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. COM-34,No. 4, April 1986.
Yemini, Y., “A bang-bang principle for real-time transport protocols,” Proc. SIGCOMM’ 83 Symp. Commun. Architect. Protocols, pp. 262–268, May 1983.
Zhao, W. and E. K. P. Chong, “Performance evaluation of scheduling algorithms for dynamic imprecise soft real-time computer systems”, Australian Computer Science Communications, Vol. 11,No. 1, pp 329–340, 1989.
Lopez-Millan, V., W. Feng, and J. W. S. Liu, “A congestion control scheme for real-time traffic switching element using the imprecise computation technique,” submitted to the 1994 International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems.
Bettati, R., N. S. Bowen, and J. Y. Chung, “On-Line Scheduling for Checkpointing Imprecise Computation,” Proceedings of Euromicro 93 Workshop on Real-Time Systems, Oulu, Finland, June 1993.
Mach 3 Server Writer’s Guide, edited by K. Loepere, Open Software Foundation and Carnegie Mellon University, 1990.
Hull, D. and J. W. S Liu, “ICS: A System for Imprecise Computations,” Proceedings of AIAA Conference, October 1993, also technical report in preparation.
Yu, A., “Scheduling parallel real-time tasks that allow imprecise computations,” Ph.D. thesis, Technical Report UIUCDCS-R-92-1738, University of Illinois, 1992.
Yu, A. and K. J. Lin, “A scheduling algorithm for replicated real-time tasks,” Proc. Phoenix Conference on Computers and Communications, pp. 395–402, April 1992.
Yu, A. and K. J. Lin, “Recovery manager for replicated real-time imprecise computations,” Proceedings of IEEE Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Real-Time Systems, Newport Beach, CA, April 1993.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1994 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Liu, J.W.S., Lin, KJ., Bettati, R., Hull, D., Yu, A. (1994). Use of Imprecise Computation to Enhance Dependability of Real-Time Systems. In: Koob, G.M., Lau, C.G. (eds) Foundations of Dependable Computing. The Springer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science, vol 284. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-27316-7_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-27316-7_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-9485-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-585-27316-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive