Delegated Token Semaphore (DTS): A Fair and Scalable Synchronization Mechanism for Multicore Systems

  • Unique Paper ID: 190334
  • Volume: 12
  • Issue: 8
  • PageNo: 1866-1877
  • Abstract:
  • Synchronization is a fundamental challenge in multiprocessor operating systems, where multiple threads compete for shared resources. Traditional synchronization primitives such as mutexes, semaphores, spinlocks, and futexes often suffer from limitations including starvation, unfair scheduling, excessive context switching, and high CPU utilization under contention. These issues become increasingly severe as modern systems scale to large numbers of processor cores. To address these challenges, this paper proposes the Delegated Token Semaphore (DTS), a novel synchronization mechanism that combines the fairness guarantees of token-passing approaches with the efficiency of delegation-based execution. In DTS, a circulating token enforces orderly and starvation-free access to critical sections, while waiting threads delegate their requests to the current token holder. This delegation enables batch execution of critical-section requests, reducing contention, minimizing context switches, and improving cache locality. A detailed system design, algorithmic formulation, and theoretical analysis are presented to demonstrate the correctness and fairness properties of DTS. Experimental evaluation on a multiprocessor platform compares DTS against conventional synchronization techniques under varying contention levels. Results show that DTS achieves higher throughput, lower waiting time, and reduced CPU overhead, particularly in high-contention scenarios. These findings indicate that DTS provides a scalable and efficient alternative to existing synchronization primitives for modern multiprocessor operating systems.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{190334,
        author = {Rahul Patel},
        title = {Delegated Token Semaphore (DTS): A Fair and Scalable Synchronization Mechanism for Multicore Systems},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {8},
        pages = {1866-1877},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=190334},
        abstract = {Synchronization is a fundamental challenge in multiprocessor operating systems, where multiple threads compete for shared resources. Traditional synchronization primitives such as mutexes, semaphores, spinlocks, and futexes often suffer from limitations including starvation, unfair scheduling, excessive context switching, and high CPU utilization under contention. These issues become increasingly severe as modern systems scale to large numbers of processor cores.
To address these challenges, this paper proposes the Delegated Token Semaphore (DTS), a novel synchronization mechanism that combines the fairness guarantees of token-passing approaches with the efficiency of delegation-based execution. In DTS, a circulating token enforces orderly and starvation-free access to critical sections, while waiting threads delegate their requests to the current token holder. This delegation enables batch execution of critical-section requests, reducing contention, minimizing context switches, and improving cache locality.
A detailed system design, algorithmic formulation, and theoretical analysis are presented to demonstrate the correctness and fairness properties of DTS. Experimental evaluation on a multiprocessor platform compares DTS against conventional synchronization techniques under varying contention levels. Results show that DTS achieves higher throughput, lower waiting time, and reduced CPU overhead, particularly in high-contention scenarios. These findings indicate that DTS provides a scalable and efficient alternative to existing synchronization primitives for modern multiprocessor operating systems.},
        keywords = {Synchronization, Multiprocessor Operating Systems, Semaphore, Delegation, Token-Based Synchronization, Fairness, Scalability, Resource Management},
        month = {January},
        }

Cite This Article

Patel, R. (2026). Delegated Token Semaphore (DTS): A Fair and Scalable Synchronization Mechanism for Multicore Systems. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology (IJIRT), 12(8), 1866–1877.

Related Articles