Efficiency and reliability of epidemic data dissemination in complex networks

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the structure of complex networks affects the spread of information during epidemics, highlighting the trade-offs between reliability and efficiency in different topologies.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of epidemic data dissemination in homogeneous versus scale-free networks, emphasizing the impact of network topology on performance metrics.

Findings

Homogeneous networks achieve higher reliability.

Scale-free networks offer better efficiency.

Network topology significantly influences dissemination dynamics.

Abstract

We study the dynamics of epidemic spreading processes aimed at spontaneous dissemination of information updates in populations with complex connectivity patterns. The influence of the topological structure of the network in these processes is studied by analyzing the behavior of several global parameters such as reliability, efficiency and load. Large scale numerical simulations of update spreading processes show that while networks with homogeneous connectivity patterns permit a higher reliability, scale-free topologies allow for a better efficiency.