Election in asynchronous complete networks with intermittent link failures

Abstract

Considers the problem of fault-tolerant leader election in asynchronous complete (fully-connected) distributed networks. The processors are reliable, but some of the communication channels may fail intermittently before or during the execution of the algorithm. Channel failures are undetectable due to the asynchronous nature of the network. Let n be the number of processors in the network and f be the maximum number of faulty channels incident on each processor, where f/spl les/ 1/2 [n-1]. Our algorithm uses at most O(n/sup 2/+nf/sup 2/) messages to elect a unique leader of the network. Each message consists of at most O(log|T|) bits, where |T| is the cardinality of the set of processor identifiers. All previous algorithms either tolerated only benign failures such as fail-stop failures, assumed that the network is synchronous, tolerated only a small number of failures, or assumed that the faults are detectable. Our algorithm is the first election algorithm that is designed specifically for asynchronous intermittently faulty complete networks in which up to 1/4 n[n-1] channels may be faulty, where each processor is adjacent to no more than 1/2 [n-1] faulty channels, and where the faults are undetectable. >