Faster Information Dissemination in Dynamic Networks via Network Coding

TL;DR

This paper introduces a network coding approach to significantly accelerate information dissemination in dynamic networks, surpassing previous lower bounds and enabling faster broadcast times especially with larger message sizes.

Contribution

It demonstrates how network coding can break existing lower bounds for information dissemination in dynamic networks, leading to faster algorithms and deterministic solutions.

Findings

Network coding reduces broadcast rounds from quadratic to near-linear in message size.

Algorithms achieve T^2 speedup in networks changing every T rounds.

Deterministic algorithms derived from randomized network coding.

Abstract

We use network coding to improve the speed of distributed computation in the dynamic network model of Kuhn, Lynch and Oshman [STOC '10]. In this model an adversary adaptively chooses a new network topology in every round, making even basic distributed computations challenging. Kuhn et al. show that n nodes, each starting with a d-bit token, can broadcast them to all nodes in time O(n^2) using b-bit messages, where b > d + log n. Their algorithms take the natural approach of {token forwarding}: in every round each node broadcasts some particular token it knows. They prove matching Omega(n^2) lower bounds for a natural class of token forwarding algorithms and an Omega(n log n) lower bound that applies to all token-forwarding algorithms. We use network coding, transmitting random linear combinations of tokens, to break both lower bounds. Our algorithm's performance is quadratic in the message size b, broadcasting the n tokens in roughly d/b^2 * n^2 rounds. For b = d = O(log n) our algorithms use O(n^2/log n) rounds, breaking the first lower bound, while for larger message sizes we obtain linear-time algorithms. We also consider networks that change only every T rounds, and achieve an additional factor T^2 speedup. This contrasts with related lower and upper bounds of Kuhn et al. implying that for natural token-forwarding algorithms a speedup of T, but not more, can be obtained. Lastly, we give a general way to derandomize random linear network coding, that also leads to new deterministic information dissemination algorithms.