Improved force-directed scheduling in high-throughput digital signal processing

This paper discusses improved force-directed scheduling and its application in the design of high-throughput DSP systems, such as real-time video VLSL circuits. We present a mathematical justification of the technique of force-directed scheduling, introduced by Paulin and Knight (1989), and we show how the algorithm can be used to find cost-effective time assignments and resource allocations, allowing trade-offs between processing units and memories. Furthermore, we present modifications that improve the effectiveness and the efficiency of the algorithm. The significance of the improvements is illustrated by an empirical performance analysis based on a number of problem instance