Signal stream processing jobs contain tasks (100), each task (100) to be performed by repeated execution of an operation that processes a chunk of data from a
stream. Each job comprises a plurality of the tasks (100) in
stream communication with one another. A plurality of
processing units (10), which are mutually coupled for the communication of
signal streams execute that tasks. A preliminary computation is performed for each job individually, to determine execution parameters required for the job to support a required minimum stream
throughput rate if each task of the job is executed in a respective context wherein opportunities to start execution of the task occur separated at most by a
cycle time T defined for the task. At run time combination of jobs is selected for execution. Groups of the tasks of the selected combination of jobs are assigned to respective ones of the
processing units (10), checking that for each particular processing unit (10) a sum of worst case execution times for the tasks assigned to that particular processing unit (10) does not exceed the defined
cycle time T defined for any of the tasks (100) assigned to the particular processing unit (10). The processing unit (10) execute the selected combination of jobs concurrently, each processing unit (10)
time multiplexing execution of the group of tasks (100) assigned to that processing unit (10).