Online algorithms for scheduling with machine activation cost

In this paper, we consider a variant of the classical parallel machine scheduling problem. For this problem, we are given m potential identical machines to non-preemptively process a sequence of independent jobs. Machines need to be activated before starting to process, and each machine activated incurs a fixed machine activation cost. No machines are initially activated, and when a job is revealed the algorithm has the option to activate new machines. The objective is to minimize the sum of the makespan and activation cost of machines. We first present two optimal online algorithms with competitive ratios of 3/2 and 5/3 for m = 2,3 cases, respectively. Then we present an online algorithm with a competitive ratio of at most 2 for general m ≥ 4, while the lower bound is 1.88.