Dynamic scheduling for mobile robots

This research concerns efficient multiprocessor threads-based implementation of reactive navigation for mobile robots. We present two important results: 1) Performance is improved significantly when CPU time allocated to individual navigational threads is adjusted dynamically according to a heuristic measure of their importance. 2) To implement this strategy, we present a multiprocessor scheduler design which can dynamically schedule navigational threads. The experiments were conducted in simulation on a BBN Butterfly and a KSR1 (shared memory multiprocessors). Speedups found for this example should extend to more complex navigational strategies as long as a heuristic measure of thread importance is available.<>