Task allocation techniques for distributed computing systems: a review

Abstract An efficient strategy to allocate tasks to processors in distributed computer systems is required for proper utilization of available computational power. Various task allocation models developed so far have the basic assumption that an application program is suitably divided into a number of subtasks or modules and the execution costs of modules and intermodule communication costs are also known. The subdivision of a given program into modules is assumed to be carried out by a software mechanism which forms a separate discipline of research work. The task allocation models developed earlier did not consider various constraints like load balancing, precedence relations, timing constraints, etc. Most of the recent works in the formulation of task allocation strategies take into account a number of constraints. This paper presents a brief outline of the various available models and algorithms for task allocation with suggestions for possible future directions in the field.