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Section: Research Program
Distributed Algorithms for dynamic networks: regulation, adaptation and interaction
Participants : Thomas Begin, Anthony Busson, Paulo Gonçalves, Isabelle Guérin Lassous.
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Glossary
- Dedicated algorithms for dynamic networks.
First, the dynamic network object itself trigger original algorithmic questions. It mainly concerns distributed algorithms that should be designed and deployed to efficiently measure the object itself and get an accurate view of its dynamic behaviour. Such distributed measure should be "transparent", that is, it should not introduce bias or at least it should be controllable and corrigible. Such problem is encountered in all distributed metrology measures / distributed sondes: P2P, sensor network, wireless network, QoS routing... This question raises naturally the intrinsic notion of adaptation and control of the dynamic network itself since it appears that autonomous networks and traffic aware routing are becoming crucial.
A case in the point for dynamic networks are communication networks which are known to potentially undergo high dynamicity. The dynamicity exhibited by these networks results from several factors including, for instance, changes in the topology and varying workload conditions. Although most implemented protocols and existing solutions in the literature can cope with a dynamic behaviour, the evolution of their behaviour operate identically whatever the actual properties of the dynamicity. For instance, parameters of the routing protocols (e.g. hello packets transmission frequency) or routing methods (e.g. reactive / proactive) are commonly hold constant regardless of the nodes mobility. Similarly, the algorithms ruling CSMA/CA (e.g. size of the contention window) are tuned identically and they do not change according to the actual workload and observed topology.
Dynamicity in computer networks tends to affect a large number of performance parameters (if not all) coming from various layers (viz. physical, link, routing and transport). To find out which ones matters the most for our intended purpose, we expect to rely on the tools developed by the two former axis. These quantities should capture and characterise the actual network dynamicity. Our goal is to take advantage of this latter information in order to refine existing protocols, or even to propose new solutions. More precisely, we will attempt to associate “fundamental” changes occurring in the underlying graph of a network (reported through graph-based signal tools) to quantitative performance that are matter of interests for networking applications and the end-users. We expect to rely on available testbeds such as Senslab and FIT to experiment our solutions and ultimately validate our approach.