We use network coding to improve the speed of distributed computation in the dynamic network model of Kuhn, Lynch and Oshman [STOC '10]. In this model an adversary adaptively chooses a new network topology in every round, making even basic distributed computations challenging. show that n nodes, each starting with a d-bit token, can broadcast them to all nodes in time O(n^2) using b-bit messages, where b > d + log n. Their algorithms take the natural approach of token forwarding : in every round each node broadcasts some particular token it knows. They prove matching Omega(n^2) lower bounds for a natural class of token forwarding algorithms and an Omega(n log n) lower bound that applies to all token-forwarding algorithms. We use network coding, transmitting random linear combinations of tokens, to break both lower bounds. Our algorithm's performance is quadratic in the message size b, broadcasting the n tokens in roughly d b^2 * n^2 rounds. For b = d = O(log n) our algorithms use O(n^2 log n) rounds, breaking the first lower bound, while for larger message sizes we obtain linear-time algorithms. We also consider networks that change only every T rounds, and achieve an additional factor T^2 speedup. This contrasts with related lower and upper bounds of implying that for natural token-forwarding algorithms a speedup of T, but not more, can be obtained. Lastly, we give a general way to derandomize random linear network coding, that also leads to new deterministic information dissemination algorithms.
Random linear network coding and its distributed implementation considered in this paper were introduced by @cite_10 and shown to achieve capacity for multicast. Its performance for the distributed @math -token dissemination problem has been intensively studied in combination with gossip algorithms under the name of algebraic gossip or rumor spreading. The first such analysis @cite_13 @cite_0 studied the performance of algebraic gossip in the random phone call model, i.e., the complete graph in which each nodes sends a message to a random neighbor in each round. Follow-on work @cite_8 @cite_12 @cite_2 @cite_1 has analyzed the distributed network coding gossip algorithm on general static networks. Haeupler @cite_1 gives a very simple analysis technique (reviewed in ) that can be used to show order optimal stopping times in practically all communication models. Most interestingly this holds true even if, as studied here and in @cite_7 , a fully adaptive adversary changes the topology in every round. In the setting considered here this would imply an optimal @math linear time algorithm for the @math -token dissemination problem. Unfortunately, these prior results do not directly apply for two subtle but important reasons:
@cite_7 @cite_8 @cite_10 @cite_1 @cite_0 @cite_2 @cite_13 @cite_12
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Motivated by applications to sensor, peer-to-peer, and ad-hoc networks, we study the problem of computing functions of values at the nodes in a network in a totally distributed manner. In particular, we consider separable functions, which can be written as linear combinations of functions of individual variables. Known iterative algorithms for averaging can be used to compute the normalized values of such functions, but these algorithms do not extend in general to the computation of the actual values of separable functions.The main contribution of this paper is the design of a distributed randomized algorithm for computing separable functions based on properties of exponential random variables. We bound the running time of our algorithm in terms of the running time of an information spreading algorithm used as a subroutine by the algorithm. Since we are interested in totally distributed algorithms, we consider a randomized gossip mechanism for information spreading as the subroutine. Combining these algorithms yields a complete and simple distributed algorithm for computing separable functions.The second contribution of this paper is an analysis of the information spreading time of the gossip algorithm. This analysis yields an upper bound on the information spreading time, and therefore a corresponding upper bound on the running time of the algorithm for computing separable functions, in terms of the conductance of an appropriate stochastic matrix. These bounds imply that, for a class of graphs with small spectral gap (such as grid graphs), the time used by our algorithm to compute averages is of a smaller order than the time required for the computation of averages by a known iterative gossip scheme [5]. In this paper, we study the question of how efficiently a collection of interconnected nodes can perform a global computation in the GOSSIP model of communication. In this model, nodes do not know the global topology of the network, and they may only initiate contact with a single neighbor in each round. This model contrasts with the much less restrictive LOCAL model, where a node may simultaneously communicate with all of its neighbors in a single round. A basic question in this setting is how many rounds of communication are required for the information dissemination problem, in which each node has some piece of information and is required to collect all others. In the LOCAL model, this is quite simple: each node broadcasts all of its information in each round, and the number of rounds required will be equal to the diameter of the underlying communication graph. In the GOSSIP model, each node must independently choose a single neighbor to contact, and the lack of global information makes it difficult to make any sort of principled choice. As such, researchers have focused on the uniform gossip algorithm, in which each node independently selects a neighbor uniformly at random. When the graph is well-connected, this works quite well. In a string of beautiful papers, researchers proved a sequence of successively stronger bounds on the number of rounds required in terms of the conductance φ and graph size n, culminating in a bound of O(φ-1 log n). In this paper, we show that a fairly simple modification of the protocol gives an algorithm that solves the information dissemination problem in at most O(D + polylog (n)) rounds in a network of diameter D, with no dependence on the conductance. This is at most an additive polylogarithmic factor from the trivial lower bound of D, which applies even in the LOCAL model. In fact, we prove that something stronger is true: any algorithm that requires T rounds in the LOCAL model can be simulated in O(T + polylog(n)) rounds in the GOSSIP model. We thus prove that these two models of distributed computation are essentially equivalent. In this paper, we study the question of how efficiently a collection of interconnected nodes can perform a global computation in the widely studied GOSSIP model of communication. In this model, nodes do not know the global topology of the network, and they may only initiate contact with a single neighbor in each round. This model contrasts with the much less restrictive LOCAL model, where a node may simultaneously communicate with all of its neighbors in a single round. A basic question in this setting is how many rounds of communication are required for the information dissemination problem, in which each node has some piece of information and is required to collect all others. In this paper, we give an algorithm that solves the information dissemination problem in at most @math rounds in a network of diameter @math , withno dependence on the conductance. This is at most an additive polylogarithmic factor from the trivial lower bound of @math , which applies even in the LOCAL model. In fact, we prove that something stronger is true: any algorithm that requires @math rounds in the LOCAL model can be simulated in @math rounds in the GOSSIP model. We thus prove that these two models of distributed computation are essentially equivalent. In this paper we study gossip based information spreading with bounded message sizes. We use algebraic gossip to disseminate k distinct messages to all n nodes in a network. For arbitrary networks we provide a new upper bound for uniform algebraic gossip of O((k + log n + D)Δ) rounds with high probability, where D and Δ are the diameter and the maximum degree in the network, respectively. For many topologies and selections of k this bound improves previous results, in particular, for graphs with a constant maximum degree it implies that uniform gossip is order optimal and the stopping time is Θ(k + D). To eliminate the factor of Δ from the upper bound we propose a non-uniform gossip protocol, TAG, which is based on algebraic gossip and an arbitrary spanning tree protocol S. The stopping time of TAG is O(k+ log n + d(S) + t(S)), where t(S) is the stopping time of the spanning tree protocol, and d(S) is the diameter of the spanning tree. We provide two general cases in which this bound leads to an order optimal protocol. The first is for k=Ω(n), where, using a simple gossip broadcast protocol that creates a spanning tree in at most linear time, we show that TAG finishes after Θ(n) rounds for any graph. The second uses a sophisticated, recent gossip protocol to build a fast spanning tree on graphs with large weak conductance. In turn, this leads to the optimally of TAG on these graphs for k=Ω(polylog(n)). The technique used in our proofs relies on queuing theory, which is an interesting approach that can be useful in future gossip analysis.