Abstract
We define the “Pulse Synchronization” problem that requires nodes to achieve tight synchronization of regular pulse events, in the settings of distributed computing systems. Pulse-coupled synchronization is a phenomenon displayed by a large variety of biological systems, typically overcoming a high level of noise. Inspired by such biological models, a robust and self-stabilizing pulse synchronization algorithm for distributed computer systems is presented. The algorithm attains near optimal synchronization tightness while tolerating up to a third of the nodes exhibiting Byzantine behavior concurrently. We propose that pulse synchronization algorithms can be suitable for a variety of distributed tasks that require tight synchronization but which can tolerate a bound variation in the regularity of the synchronized pulse invocations.
This research was supported in part by Intel COMM Grant — Internet Network/Transport Layer & QoS Environment (IXA).
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Daliot, A., Dolev, D., Parnas, H. (2003). Self-Stabilizing Pulse Synchronization Inspired by Biological Pacemaker Networks. In: Huang, ST., Herman, T. (eds) Self-Stabilizing Systems. SSS 2003. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2704. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45032-7_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45032-7_3
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