Innovative Approaches to Task Scheduling in Cloud Computing Environments Using an Advanced Willow Catkin Optimization Algorithm

Abstract

The widespread adoption of cloud computing has underscored the critical importance of efficient resource allocation and management, particularly in task scheduling, which involves assigning tasks to computing resources for optimized resource utilization. Several meta-heuristic algorithms have shown effectiveness in task scheduling, among which the relatively recent Willow Catkin Optimization (WCO) algorithm has demonstrated potential, albeit with apparent needs for enhanced global search capability and convergence speed. To address these limitations of WCO in cloud computing task scheduling, this paper introduces an improved version termed the Advanced Willow Catkin Optimization (AWCO) algorithm. AWCO enhances the algorithm’s performance by augmenting its global search capability through a quasi-opposition-based learning strategy and accelerating its convergence speed via sinusoidal mapping. A comprehensive evaluation utilizing the CEC2014 benchmark suite, comprising 30 test functions, demonstrates that AWCO achieves superior optimization outcomes, surpassing conventional WCO and a range of established meta-heuristics. The proposed algorithm also considers trade-offs among the cost, makespan, and load balancing objectives. Experimental results of AWCO are compared with those obtained using the other meta-heuristics, illustrating that the proposed algorithm provides superior performance in task scheduling. The method offers a robust foundation for enhancing the utilization of cloud computing resources in the domain of task scheduling within a cloud computing environment.