This paper presents greedy gossip with eavesdropping (GGE), a novel randomized gossip algorithm for distributed computation of the average consensus problem. In gossip algorithms, nodes in the network randomly communicate with their neighbors and exchange information iteratively. The algorithms are simple and decentralized, making them attractive for wireless network applications. In general, gossip algorithms are robust to unreliable wireless conditions and time varying network topologies. In this paper, we introduce GGE and demonstrate that greedy updates lead to rapid convergence. We do not require nodes to have any location information. Instead, greedy updates are made possible by exploiting the broadcast nature of wireless communications. During the operation of GGE, when a node decides to gossip, instead of choosing one of its neighbors at random, it makes a greedy selection, choosing the node which has the value most different from its own. In order to make this selection, nodes need to know their neighbors' values. Therefore, we assume that all transmissions are wireless broadcasts and nodes keep track of their neighbors' values by eavesdropping on their communications. We show that the convergence of GGE is guaranteed for connected network topologies. We also study the rates of convergence and illustrate, through theoretical bounds and numerical simulations, that GGE consistently outperforms randomized gossip and performs comparably to geographic gossip on moderate-sized random geometric graph topologies.
The convergence rate of randomized gossip is characterized by relating the algorithm to a Markov chain @cite_19 . The mixing time of this Markov chain is closely related to the averaging time of the gossip algorithm, and therefore defines the rate of convergence. For certain types of graph topologies, the mixing times are small and convergence of the gossip algorithm is fast. For example, in the case of a complete graph, the algorithm requires @math iterations to converge. However topologies such as random geometric graphs @cite_2 or grids are more realistic for wireless applications. @cite_19 prove that for random geometric graphs, randomized gossip requires @math transmissions to approximate the average consensus well Throughout this paper, when we refer to randomized gossip we specifically mean the natural random walk version of the algorithm, where the node @math is chosen uniformly from the set of neighbors of @math at each iteration. For random geometric graph topologies, which are of most interest to us, @cite_19 prove that the performance of the natural random walk algorithm scales order-wise identically to that of the optimal choice of transition probabilities, so there is no loss of generality. .
@cite_19 @cite_2
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Motivated by applications to sensor, peer-to-peer, and ad hoc networks, we study distributed algorithms, also known as gossip algorithms, for exchanging information and for computing in an arbitrarily connected network of nodes. The topology of such networks changes continuously as new nodes join and old nodes leave the network. Algorithms for such networks need to be robust against changes in topology. Additionally, nodes in sensor networks operate under limited computational, communication, and energy resources. These constraints have motivated the design of "gossip" algorithms: schemes which distribute the computational burden and in which a node communicates with a randomly chosen neighbor. We analyze the averaging problem under the gossip constraint for an arbitrary network graph, and find that the averaging time of a gossip algorithm depends on the second largest eigenvalue of a doubly stochastic matrix characterizing the algorithm. Designing the fastest gossip algorithm corresponds to minimizing this eigenvalue, which is a semidefinite program (SDP). In general, SDPs cannot be solved in a distributed fashion; however, exploiting problem structure, we propose a distributed subgradient method that solves the optimization problem over the network. The relation of averaging time to the second largest eigenvalue naturally relates it to the mixing time of a random walk with transition probabilities derived from the gossip algorithm. We use this connection to study the performance and scaling of gossip algorithms on two popular networks: Wireless Sensor Networks, which are modeled as Geometric Random Graphs, and the Internet graph under the so-called Preferential Connectivity (PC) model. When n identical randomly located nodes, each capable of transmitting at W bits per second and using a fixed range, form a wireless network, the throughput spl lambda (n) obtainable by each node for a randomly chosen destination is spl Theta (W spl radic (nlogn)) bits per second under a noninterference protocol. If the nodes are optimally placed in a disk of unit area, traffic patterns are optimally assigned, and each transmission's range is optimally chosen, the bit-distance product that can be transported by the network per second is spl Theta (W spl radic An) bit-meters per second. Thus even under optimal circumstances, the throughput is only spl Theta (W spl radic n) bits per second for each node for a destination nonvanishingly far away. Similar results also hold under an alternate physical model where a required signal-to-interference ratio is specified for successful receptions. Fundamentally, it is the need for every node all over the domain to share whatever portion of the channel it is utilizing with nodes in its local neighborhood that is the reason for the constriction in capacity. Splitting the channel into several subchannels does not change any of the results. Some implications may be worth considering by designers. Since the throughput furnished to each user diminishes to zero as the number of users is increased, perhaps networks connecting smaller numbers of users, or featuring connections mostly with nearby neighbors, may be more likely to be find acceptance.