The (T, L)-Path Model and Algorithms for Information Dissemination in Dynamic Networks

A dynamic network is the abstraction of distributed systems with frequent network topology changes. With such dynamic network models, fundamental distributed computing problems can be formally studied with rigorous correctness. Although quite a number of models have been proposed and studied for dynamic networks, the existing models are usually defined from the point of view of connectivity properties. In this paper, instead, we examine the dynamicity of network topology according to the procedure of changes, i.e., how the topology or links change. Following such an approach, we propose the notion of the “instant path” and define two dynamic network models based on the instant path. Based on these two models, we design distributed algorithms for the problem of information dissemination respectively, one of the fundamental distributing computing problems. The correctness of our algorithms is formally proved and their performance in time cost and communication cost is analyzed. Compared with existing connectivity based dynamic network models and algorithms, our procedure based ones are definitely easier to be instantiated in the practical design and deployment of dynamic networks.