44,563 research outputs found
Geographic Gossip: Efficient Averaging for Sensor Networks
Gossip algorithms for distributed computation are attractive due to their
simplicity, distributed nature, and robustness in noisy and uncertain
environments. However, using standard gossip algorithms can lead to a
significant waste in energy by repeatedly recirculating redundant information.
For realistic sensor network model topologies like grids and random geometric
graphs, the inefficiency of gossip schemes is related to the slow mixing times
of random walks on the communication graph. We propose and analyze an
alternative gossiping scheme that exploits geographic information. By utilizing
geographic routing combined with a simple resampling method, we demonstrate
substantial gains over previously proposed gossip protocols. For regular graphs
such as the ring or grid, our algorithm improves standard gossip by factors of
and respectively. For the more challenging case of random
geometric graphs, our algorithm computes the true average to accuracy
using radio
transmissions, which yields a factor improvement over
standard gossip algorithms. We illustrate these theoretical results with
experimental comparisons between our algorithm and standard methods as applied
to various classes of random fields.Comment: To appear, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processin
Epidemic Spreading with External Agents
We study epidemic spreading processes in large networks, when the spread is
assisted by a small number of external agents: infection sources with bounded
spreading power, but whose movement is unrestricted vis-\`a-vis the underlying
network topology. For networks which are `spatially constrained', we show that
the spread of infection can be significantly speeded up even by a few such
external agents infecting randomly. Moreover, for general networks, we derive
upper-bounds on the order of the spreading time achieved by certain simple
(random/greedy) external-spreading policies. Conversely, for certain common
classes of networks such as line graphs, grids and random geometric graphs, we
also derive lower bounds on the order of the spreading time over all
(potentially network-state aware and adversarial) external-spreading policies;
these adversarial lower bounds match (up to logarithmic factors) the spreading
time achieved by an external agent with a random spreading policy. This
demonstrates that random, state-oblivious infection-spreading by an external
agent is in fact order-wise optimal for spreading in such spatially constrained
networks
On the General Graph Embedding Problem With Applications to Circuit Layout
We consider the problem of embedding one graph in another, where the cost of an embedding is the maximum distance in the target graph separating vertices that are adjacent in the source graph. An important special case, know as the bandwidth minimization problem, is when the target graph is a path. This author has shown that for random graphs having bandwidth at most k, a well-known heuristic produces solutions having cost not more than 3k with high probability. This paper considers generalizations of this heuristic and analyzes their performance in other classes of target graphs. In particular, we describe a heuristic that for random graphs having a cost k embedding in a rectangular grid, produces embeddings having cost not more than 3k with high probability. This problem has applications to laying out circuits in the plane so as to minimize the lengths of the longest wire. Similar results can be obtained for multi-dimensional grids, as well as triangular and hexagonal grids
Accelerated Gossip in Networks of Given Dimension using Jacobi Polynomial Iterations
Consider a network of agents connected by communication links, where each
agent holds a real value. The gossip problem consists in estimating the average
of the values diffused in the network in a distributed manner. We develop a
method solving the gossip problem that depends only on the spectral dimension
of the network, that is, in the communication network set-up, the dimension of
the space in which the agents live. This contrasts with previous work that
required the spectral gap of the network as a parameter, or suffered from slow
mixing. Our method shows an important improvement over existing algorithms in
the non-asymptotic regime, i.e., when the values are far from being fully mixed
in the network. Our approach stems from a polynomial-based point of view on
gossip algorithms, as well as an approximation of the spectral measure of the
graphs with a Jacobi measure. We show the power of the approach with
simulations on various graphs, and with performance guarantees on graphs of
known spectral dimension, such as grids and random percolation bonds. An
extension of this work to distributed Laplacian solvers is discussed. As a side
result, we also use the polynomial-based point of view to show the convergence
of the message passing algorithm for gossip of Moallemi \& Van Roy on regular
graphs. The explicit computation of the rate of the convergence shows that
message passing has a slow rate of convergence on graphs with small spectral
gap
A probabilistic version of the game of Zombies and Survivors on graphs
We consider a new probabilistic graph searching game played on graphs,
inspired by the familiar game of Cops and Robbers. In Zombies and Survivors, a
set of zombies attempts to eat a lone survivor loose on a given graph. The
zombies randomly choose their initial location, and during the course of the
game, move directly toward the survivor. At each round, they move to the
neighbouring vertex that minimizes the distance to the survivor; if there is
more than one such vertex, then they choose one uniformly at random. The
survivor attempts to escape from the zombies by moving to a neighbouring vertex
or staying on his current vertex. The zombies win if eventually one of them
eats the survivor by landing on their vertex; otherwise, the survivor wins. The
zombie number of a graph is the minimum number of zombies needed to play such
that the probability that they win is strictly greater than 1/2. We present
asymptotic results for the zombie numbers of several graph families, such as
cycles, hypercubes, incidence graphs of projective planes, and Cartesian and
toroidal grids
Shock waves on complex networks
Power grids, road maps, and river streams are examples of infrastructural
networks which are highly vulnerable to external perturbations. An abrupt local
change of load (voltage, traffic density, or water level) might propagate in a
cascading way and affect a significant fraction of the network. Almost
discontinuous perturbations can be modeled by shock waves which can eventually
interfere constructively and endanger the normal functionality of the
infrastructure. We study their dynamics by solving the Burgers equation under
random perturbations on several real and artificial directed graphs. Even for
graphs with a narrow distribution of node properties (e.g., degree or
betweenness), a steady state is reached exhibiting a heterogeneous load
distribution, having a difference of one order of magnitude between the highest
and average loads. Unexpectedly we find for the European power grid and for
finite Watts-Strogatz networks a broad pronounced bimodal distribution for the
loads. To identify the most vulnerable nodes, we introduce the concept of
node-basin size, a purely topological property which we show to be strongly
correlated to the average load of a node
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