A variant of particle swarm optimization in cloud computing environment for scheduling workflow applications

Abstract

Cloud computing offers on-demand access to shared resources, with user costs based on resource usage and execution time. To attract users, cloud providers need efficient schedulers that minimize these costs. Achieving cost minimization is challenging due to the need to consider both execution and data transfer costs. Existing scheduling techniques often fail to balance these costs effectively. This study proposes a variant of the particle swarm optimization algorithm (VPSO) for scheduling workflow applications in a cloud computing environment. The approach aims to reduce both execution and communication costs. We compared VPSO with several PSO variants, including Inertia-weighted PSO, gaussian disturbed particle swarm optimization (GDPSO), dynamic-PSO, and dynamic adaptive particle swarm optimization with self-supervised learning (DAPSO-SSL). Results indicate that VPSO generally offers significant cost reductions and efficient workload distribution across resources, although there are specific scenarios where other algorithms perform better. VPSO provides a robust and cost-effective solution for cloud workflow scheduling, enhancing task-resource mapping and reducing costs compared to existing methods. Future research will explore further enhancements and additional PSO variants to optimize cloud resource management.