Efficient Priority-Queue Data Structure for Hardware Implementation

Priority queues are data structures that maintain a list of data sorted first by priority and second by order of insertion (first in first out). These data structures are used in network routers to schedule outgoing packets from streams requiring various quality of service. Priority queues have also been used in hybrid operating systems that employ hardware to accelerate task scheduling. A novel hardware data structure is proposed here to implement priority queues. By using a system of indices, the need for comparators is eliminated, reducing size and improving performance. After describing the hardware architecture, synthesis results for realistic size systems are presented. The results are promising, improving on other recent studies.