Range-Based Set Reconciliation

TL;DR

This paper presents a generalized framework for range-based set reconciliation, improving efficiency and providing a comprehensive analysis and survey of fingerprinting schemes, including cryptographically secure options.

Contribution

It offers a broader, more flexible description of range-based set reconciliation, reducing local computation time and surveying secure fingerprinting schemes.

Findings

Reduced local computation time by a logarithmic factor

Provided a generic analysis and description of fingerprinting schemes

Surveyed cryptographically secure fingerprinting methods

Abstract

Range-based set reconciliation is a simple approach to efficiently computing the union of two sets over a network, based on recursively partitioning the sets and comparing fingerprints of the partitions to probabilistically detect whether a partition requires further work. Whereas prior presentations of this approach focus on specific fingerprinting schemes for specific use-cases, we give a more generic description and analysis in the broader context of set reconciliation. Precisely capturing the design space for fingerprinting schemes allows us to survey for cryptographically secure schemes. Furthermore, we reduce the time complexity of local computations by a logarithmic factor compared to previous publications.