This paper presents a mapping strategy for parallel processing using an accurate characterization of the communication overhead. A set of objective functions is formulated to evaluate the optimality of mapping a problem graph onto a system graph. One of them is especially suitable for real-time applications of parallel processing. These objective functions are different from the conventional objective functions in that the edges in the problem graph are weighted and the actual distance rather than the nominal distance for the edges in the system graph is employed. This facilitates a more accurate quantification of the communication overhead. An efficient mapping scheme has been developed for the objective functions, where two levels of assignment optimization procedures are employed: initial assignment and pairwise exchange. The mapping scheme has been tested using the hypercube as a system graph.