Abstract⎯The Tiered Algorithm is presented for time-efficient and message-efficient detection of process termination. It employs a global invariant of equality between process production and consumption at each level of process nesting to detect termination regardless of execution interleaving order and network transit time. Correctness is validated for arbitrary process launching hierarchies, including launch-in-transit hazards where processes are created dynamically based on run-time conditions for remote execution. The performance of the Tiered Algorithm is compared to three existing schemes with comparable capabilities, namely the CV, LTD, and Credit termination detection algorithms. For synchronization of T tasks terminating in E epochs of idle processing, the Tiered Algorithm is shown to incur O(E) message count complexity and O(T lg T) message bit complexity while incurring detection latency corresponding to only integer addition and comparison. The synchronization performance in terms of messaging overhead, detection operations, and storage requirements are evaluated and compared across numerous task creation and termination hierarchies.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.