Epidemic Dissemination in Ad Hoc Networks

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and ad hoc networks have many points in common: both represent a decentralized self-organizing network structure. However few existing P2P algorithms are specifically designed to operate efficiently over ad hoc networks. And few ad hoc networks are designed to benefit from P2P infrastructures. We have worked on an epidemic dissemination protocol to maintain soft-state in a decentralized, peer-to-peer fashion, in ad hoc networks. This protocol is an enhancement of Passive Distributed Indexing (PDI) method proposed by Lindemann and Waldhorst. PDI is a method for distributing information in a P2P structure which is particularly suited to ad hoc networks, and does not involve an overlay topology. It makes use of broadcast messages to spread information via passive epidemic dissemination. We have enhanced PDI in order to reduce the number of broadcast messages when the search for an item may span several hops. Three enhancements are proposed: 1) Lazy query propagation to delay the propagation of query messages such that local responses can inhibit unnecessary search. 2) Quench waves to stop an already initiated query propagation when still possible. A decision algorithm determines whether to start a quench wave or not based solely on local information. 3) The use of Multi-Point Relay (MPR) or similar protocol and algorithm, to reduce redundant broadcast messages. This talk will present the current state of this research, and discuss several open aspects with the purpose of stimulating debate. The talk will also include an overview of related work such as epidemic models from biology, other epidemic protocols for P2P overlays and MANETs, including gossip (active) and promiscuous (passive) dissemination modes. Such protocols could be used for many different purposes, roughly any task requiring distributed soft-state maintenance in the ad hoc network, including DNS and identifier mappings, network monitoring and configuration, and so on. During the talk we will also exploit the possibility of using the protocol to disseminate service information for on-demand service deployment, and further, to assist in self-composing protocol structures

Searching in Unstructured Overlays Using Local Knowledge and Gossip

This paper analyzes a class of dissemination algorithms for the discovery of distributed contents in Peer-to-Peer unstructured overlay networks. The algorithms are a mix of protocols employing local knowledge of peers' neighborhood and gossip. By tuning the gossip probability and the depth k of the k-neighborhood of which nodes have information, we obtain different dissemination protocols employed in literature over unstructured P2P overlays. The provided analysis and simulation results confirm that, when properly configured, these schemes represent a viable approach to build effective P2P resource discovery in large-scale, dynamic distributed systems.Comment: A revised version of the paper appears in Proc. of the 5th International Workshop on Complex Networks (CompleNet 2014) - Studies in Computational Intelligence Series, Springer-Verlag, Bologna (Italy), March 201

Pheromone-based In-Network Processing for wireless sensor network monitoring systems

Monitoring spatio-temporal continuous fields using wireless sensor networks (WSNs) has emerged as a novel solution. An efficient data-driven routing mechanism for sensor querying and information gathering in large-scale WSNs is a challenging problem. In particular, we consider the case of how to query the sensor network information with the minimum energy cost in scenarios where a small subset of sensor nodes has relevant readings. In order to deal with this problem, we propose a Pheromone-based In-Network Processing (PhINP) mechanism. The proposal takes advantages of both a pheromone-based iterative strategy to direct queries towards nodes with relevant information and query- and response-based in-network filtering to reduce the number of active nodes. Additionally, we apply reinforcement learning to improve the performance. The main contribution of this work is the proposal of a simple and efficient mechanism for information discovery and gathering. It can reduce the messages exchanged in the network, by allowing some error, in order to maximize the network lifetime. We demonstrate by extensive simulations that using PhINP mechanism the query dissemination cost can be reduced by approximately 60% over flooding, with an error below 1%, applying the same in-network filtering strategy.Fil: Riva, Guillermo Gaston. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Finochietto, Jorge Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Estudios Avanzados en Ingeniería y Tecnología. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Avanzados en Ingeniería y Tecnología; Argentin

Amorphous Placement and Retrieval of Sensory Data in Sparse Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks

Abstract—Personal communication devices are increasingly being equipped with sensors that are able to passively collect information from their surroundings – information that could be stored in fairly small local caches. We envision a system in which users of such devices use their collective sensing, storage, and communication resources to query the state of (possibly remote) neighborhoods. The goal of such a system is to achieve the highest query success ratio using the least communication overhead (power). We show that the use of Data Centric Storage (DCS), or directed placement, is a viable approach for achieving this goal, but only when the underlying network is well connected. Alternatively, we propose, amorphous placement, in which sensory samples are cached locally and informed exchanges of cached samples is used to diffuse the sensory data throughout the whole network. In handling queries, the local cache is searched first for potential answers. If unsuccessful, the query is forwarded to one or more direct neighbors for answers. This technique leverages node mobility and caching capabilities to avoid the multi-hop communication overhead of directed placement. Using a simplified mobility model, we provide analytical lower and upper bounds on the ability of amorphous placement to achieve uniform field coverage in one and two dimensions. We show that combining informed shuffling of cached samples upon an encounter between two nodes, with the querying of direct neighbors could lead to significant performance improvements. For instance, under realistic mobility models, our simulation experiments show that amorphous placement achieves 10% to 40% better query answering ratio at a 25% to 35% savings in consumed power over directed placement.National Science Foundation (CNS Cybertrust 0524477, CNS NeTS 0520166, CNS ITR 0205294, EIA RI 0202067

On the Potential of Generic Modeling for VANET Data Aggregation Protocols

In-network data aggregation is a promising communication mechanism to reduce bandwidth requirements of applications in vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs). Many aggregation schemes have been proposed, often with varying features. Most aggregation schemes are tailored to specific application scenarios and for specific aggregation operations. Comparative evaluation of different aggregation schemes is therefore difficult. An application centric view of aggregation does also not tap into the potential of cross application aggregation. Generic modeling may help to unlock this potential. We outline a generic modeling approach to enable improved comparability of aggregation schemes and facilitate joint optimization for different applications of aggregation schemes for VANETs. This work outlines the requirements and general concept of a generic modeling approach and identifies open challenges

Highly intensive data dissemination in complex networks

This paper presents a study on data dissemination in unstructured Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network overlays. The absence of a structure in unstructured overlays eases the network management, at the cost of non-optimal mechanisms to spread messages in the network. Thus, dissemination schemes must be employed that allow covering a large portion of the network with a high probability (e.g.~gossip based approaches). We identify principal metrics, provide a theoretical model and perform the assessment evaluation using a high performance simulator that is based on a parallel and distributed architecture. A main point of this study is that our simulation model considers implementation technical details, such as the use of caching and Time To Live (TTL) in message dissemination, that are usually neglected in simulations, due to the additional overhead they cause. Outcomes confirm that these technical details have an important influence on the performance of dissemination schemes and that the studied schemes are quite effective to spread information in P2P overlay networks, whatever their topology. Moreover, the practical usage of such dissemination mechanisms requires a fine tuning of many parameters, the choice between different network topologies and the assessment of behaviors such as free riding. All this can be done only using efficient simulation tools to support both the network design phase and, in some cases, at runtime