Location-Aided Fast Distributed Consensus in Wireless Networks

Existing works on distributed consensus explore linear iterations based on reversible Markov chains, which contribute to the slow convergence of the algorithms. It has been observed that by overcoming the diffusive behavior of reversible chains, certain nonreversible chains lifted from reversible ones mix substantially faster than the original chains. In this paper, we investigate the idea of accelerating distributed consensus via lifting Markov chains, and propose a class of Location-Aided Distributed Averaging (LADA) algorithms for wireless networks, where nodes' coarse location information is used to construct nonreversible chains that facilitate distributed computing and cooperative processing. First, two general pseudo-algorithms are presented to illustrate the notion of distributed averaging through chain-lifting. These pseudo-algorithms are then respectively instantiated through one LADA algorithm on grid networks, and one on general wireless networks. For a $k\times k$ grid network, the proposed LADA algorithm achieves an $\epsilon$-averaging time of $O(k\log(\epsilon^{-1}))$. Based on this algorithm, in a wireless network with transmission range $r$, an $\epsilon$-averaging time of $O(r^{-1}\log(\epsilon^{-1}))$ can be attained through a centralized algorithm. Subsequently, we present a fully-distributed LADA algorithm for wireless networks, which utilizes only the direction information of neighbors to construct nonreversible chains. It is shown that this distributed LADA algorithm achieves the same scaling law in averaging time as the centralized scheme. Finally, we propose a cluster-based LADA (C-LADA) algorithm, which, requiring no central coordination, provides the additional benefit of reduced message complexity compared with the distributed LADA algorithm.Comment: 44 pages, 14 figures. Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Information Theor

Gossip Algorithms for Distributed Signal Processing

Gossip algorithms are attractive for in-network processing in sensor networks because they do not require any specialized routing, there is no bottleneck or single point of failure, and they are robust to unreliable wireless network conditions. Recently, there has been a surge of activity in the computer science, control, signal processing, and information theory communities, developing faster and more robust gossip algorithms and deriving theoretical performance guarantees. This article presents an overview of recent work in the area. We describe convergence rate results, which are related to the number of transmitted messages and thus the amount of energy consumed in the network for gossiping. We discuss issues related to gossiping over wireless links, including the effects of quantization and noise, and we illustrate the use of gossip algorithms for canonical signal processing tasks including distributed estimation, source localization, and compression.Comment: Submitted to Proceedings of the IEEE, 29 page

Greedy Gossip with Eavesdropping

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.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figure

Blockchain Solutions for Multi-Agent Robotic Systems: Related Work and Open Questions

The possibilities of decentralization and immutability make blockchain probably one of the most breakthrough and promising technological innovations in recent years. This paper presents an overview, analysis, and classification of possible blockchain solutions for practical tasks facing multi-agent robotic systems. The paper discusses blockchain-based applications that demonstrate how distributed ledger can be used to extend the existing number of research platforms and libraries for multi-agent robotic systems.Comment: 5 pages, FRUCT-2019 conference pape