arXiv subjects

John Augustine

Publications and source records attributed to John Augustine.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Shortest Paths in a Hybrid Network Model

We introduce a communication model for hybrid networks, where nodes have access to two different communication modes: a local mode where communication is only possible between specific pairs of nodes, and a global mode where communication between any pair of nodes is possible. This can be motivated, for instance, by wireless networks in which we combine direct device-to-device communication (e.g., using WiFi) with communication via a shared infrastructure (like base stations, the cellular network, or satellites). Typically, communication over short-range connections is cheaper and can be done at a much higher rate. Hence, we are focusing here on the LOCAL model (in which the nodes can exchange an unbounded amount of information in each round) for the local connections while for the global communication we assume the so-called node-capacitated clique model, where in each round every node can exchange only $O(\log n)$-bit messages with just $O(\log n)$ other nodes. In order to explore the power of combining local and global communication, we study the impact of hybrid communication on the complexity of computing shortest paths in the graph given by the local connections. Specifically, for the all-pairs shortest paths problem (APSP), we show that an exact solution can be computed in time $\tilde O\big(n^{2/3}\big)$ and that approximate solutions can be computed in time $\tilde Θ\big(\!\sqrt{n}\big)$. For the single-source shortest paths problem (SSSP), we show that an exact solution can be computed in time $\tilde O\big(\!\sqrt{\mathsf{SPD}}\big)$, where $\mathsf{SPD}$ denotes the shortest path diameter. We further show that a $\big(1\!+\!o(1)\big)$-approximate solution can be computed in time $\tilde O\big(n^{1/3}\big)$. Additionally, we show that for every constant $\varepsilon>0$, it is possible to compute an $O(1)$-approximate solution in time $\tilde O(n^\varepsilon)$.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2019

Scalable and Secure Computation Among Strangers: Resource-Competitive Byzantine Protocols

Motivated, in part, by the rise of permissionless systems such as Bitcoin where arbitrary nodes (whose identities are not known apriori) can join and leave at will, we extend established research in scalable Byzantine agreement to a more practical model where each node (initially) does not know the identity of other nodes. A node can send to new destinations only by sending to random (or arbitrary) nodes, or responding (if it chooses) to messages received from those destinations. We assume a synchronous and fully-connected network, with a full-information, but static Byzantine adversary. A general drawback of existing Byzantine protocols is that the communication cost incurred by the honest nodes may not be proportional to those incurred by the Byzantine nodes; in fact, they can be significantly higher. Our goal is to design Byzantine protocols for fundamental problems which are {\em resource competitive}, i.e., the number of bits sent by honest nodes is not much more than those sent by Byzantine nodes. We describe a randomized scalable algorithm to solve Byzantine agreement, leader election, and committee election in this model. Our algorithm sends an expected $O((T+n)\log n)$ bits and has latency $O(polylog(n))$, where $n$ is the number of nodes, and $T$ is the minimum of $n^2$ and the number of bits sent by adversarially controlled nodes. The algorithm is resilient to $(1/4-ε)n$ Byzantine nodes for any fixed $ε> 0$, and succeeds with high probability. Our work can be considered as a first application of resource-competitive analysis to fundamental Byzantine problems. To complement our algorithm we also show lower bounds for resource-competitive Byzantine agreement. We prove that, in general, one cannot hope to design Byzantine protocols that have communication cost that is significantly smaller than the cost of the Byzantine adversary.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2019

Distributed Computation in Node-Capacitated Networks

In this paper, we study distributed graph algorithms in networks in which the nodes have a limited communication capacity. Many distributed systems are built on top of an underlying networking infrastructure, for example by using a virtual communication topology known as an overlay network. Although this underlying network might allow each node to directly communicate with a large number of other nodes, the amount of communication that a node can perform in a fixed amount of time is typically much more limited. We introduce the Node-Capacitated Clique model as an abstract communication model, which allows us to study the effect of nodes having limited communication capacity on the complexity of distributed graph computations. In this model, the $n$ nodes of a network are connected as a clique and communicate in synchronous rounds. In each round, every node can exchange messages of $O(\log n)$ bits with at most $O(\log n)$ other nodes. When solving a graph problem, the input graph $G$ is defined on the same set of $n$ nodes, where each node knows which other nodes are its neighbors in $G$. To initiate research on the Node-Capacitated Clique model, we present distributed algorithms for the Minimum Spanning Tree (MST), BFS Tree, Maximal Independent Set, Maximal Matching, and Vertex Coloring problems. We show that even with only $O(\log n)$ concurrent interactions per node, the MST problem can still be solved in polylogarithmic time. In all other cases, the runtime of our algorithms depends linearly on the arboricity of $G$, which is a constant for many important graph families such as planar graphs.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2018

Dispersion of Mobile Robots: A Study of Memory-Time Trade-offs

We introduce a new problem in the domain of mobile robots, which we term dispersion. In this problem, $n$ robots are placed in an $n$ node graph arbitrarily and must coordinate with each other to reach a final configuration such that exactly one robot is at each node. We study this problem through the lenses of minimizing the memory required by each robot and of minimizing the number of rounds required to achieve dispersion. Dispersion is of interest due to its relationship to the problems of scattering on a graph, exploration using mobile robots, and load balancing on a graph. Additionally, dispersion has an immediate real world application due to its relationship to the problem of recharging electric cars, as each car can be considered a robot and recharging stations and the roads connecting them nodes and edges of a graph respectively. Since recharging is a costly affair relative to traveling, we want to distribute these cars amongst the various available recharge points where communication should be limited to car-to-car interactions. We provide lower bounds on both the memory required for robots to achieve dispersion and the minimum running time to achieve dispersion on any type of graph. We then analyze the trade-offs between time and memory for various types of graphs. We provide time optimal and memory optimal algorithms for several types of graphs and show the power of a little memory in terms of running time.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2018

Balanced Allocation: Patience is not a Virtue

Load balancing is a well-studied problem, with balls-in-bins being the primary framework. The greedy algorithm $\mathsf{Greedy}[d]$ of Azar et al. places each ball by probing $d > 1$ random bins and placing the ball in the least loaded of them. With high probability, the maximum load under $\mathsf{Greedy}[d]$ is exponentially lower than the result when balls are placed uniformly randomly. Vöcking showed that a slightly asymmetric variant, $\mathsf{Left}[d]$, provides a further significant improvement. However, this improvement comes at an additional computational cost of imposing structure on the bins. Here, we present a fully decentralized and easy-to-implement algorithm called $\mathsf{FirstDiff}[d]$ that combines the simplicity of $\mathsf{Greedy}[d]$ and the improved balance of $\mathsf{Left}[d]$. The key idea in $\mathsf{FirstDiff}[d]$ is to probe until a different bin size from the first observation is located, then place the ball. Although the number of probes could be quite large for some of the balls, we show that $\mathsf{FirstDiff}[d]$ requires only at most $d$ probes on average per ball (in both the standard and the heavily-loaded settings). Thus the number of probes is no greater than either that of $\mathsf{Greedy}[d]$ or $\mathsf{Left}[d]$. More importantly, we show that $\mathsf{FirstDiff}[d]$ closely matches the improved maximum load ensured by $\mathsf{Left}[d]$ in both the standard and heavily-loaded settings. We further provide a tight lower bound on the maximum load up to $O(\log \log \log n)$ terms. We additionally give experimental data that $\mathsf{FirstDiff}[d]$ is indeed as good as $\mathsf{Left}[d]$, if not better, in practice.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2017

Deterministic Dispersion of Mobile Robots in Dynamic Rings

In this work, we study the problem of dispersion of mobile robots on dynamic rings. The problem of dispersion of $n$ robots on an $n$ node graph, introduced by Augustine and Moses Jr. [1], requires robots to coordinate with each other and reach a configuration where exactly one robot is present on each node. This problem has real world applications and applies whenever we want to minimize the total cost of $n$ agents sharing $n$ resources, located at various places, subject to the constraint that the cost of an agent moving to a different resource is comparatively much smaller than the cost of multiple agents sharing a resource (e.g. smart electric cars sharing recharge stations). The study of this problem also provides indirect benefits to the study of scattering on graphs, the study of exploration by mobile robots, and the study of load balancing on graphs. We solve the problem of dispersion in the presence of two types of dynamism in the underlying graph: (i) vertex permutation and (ii) 1-interval connectivity. We introduce the notion of vertex permutation dynamism and have it mean that for a given set of nodes, in every round, the adversary ensures a ring structure is maintained, but the connections between the nodes may change. We use the idea of 1-interval connectivity from Di Luna et al. [10], where for a given ring, in each round, the adversary chooses at most one edge to remove. We assume robots have full visibility and present asymptotically time optimal algorithms to achieve dispersion in the presence of both types of dynamism when robots have chirality. When robots do not have chirality, we present asymptotically time optimal algorithms to achieve dispersion subject to certain constraints. Finally, we provide impossibility results for dispersion when robots have no visibility.

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arXiv2017

Sustaining Moore's Law Through Inexactness

Inexact computing aims to compute good solutions that require considerably less resource -- typically energy -- compared to computing exact solutions. While inexactness is motivated by concerns derived from technology scaling and Moore's law, there is no formal or foundational framework for reasoning about this novel approach to designing algorithms. In this work, we present a fundamental relationship between the quality of computing the value of a boolean function and the energy needed to compute it in a mathematically rigorous and general setting. On this basis, one can study the tradeoff between the quality of the solution to a problem and the amount of energy that is consumed. We accomplish this by introducing a computational model to classify problems based on notions of symmetry inspired by physics. We show that some problems are symmetric in that every input bit is, in a sense, equally important, while other problems display a great deal of asymmetry in the importance of input bits. We believe that our model is novel and provides a foundation for inexact Computing. Building on this, we show that asymmetric problems allow us to invest resources favoring the important bits -- a feature that can be leveraged to design efficient inexact algorithms. On the negative side and in contrast, we can prove that the best inexact algorithms for symmetric problems are no better than simply reducing the resource investment uniformly across all bits. Akin to classical theories concerned with space and time complexity, we believe the ability to classify problems as shown in our paper will serve as a basis for formally reasoning about the effectiveness of inexactness in the context of a range of computational problems with energy being the primary resource.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2016

Information Spreading in Dynamic Networks under Oblivious Adversaries

We study the problem of gossip in dynamic networks controlled by an adversary that can modify the network arbitrarily from one round to another, provided that the network is always connected. In the gossip problem, $n$ tokens are arbitrarily distributed among the $n$ network nodes, and the goal is to disseminate all the $n$ tokens to every node. Our focus is on token-forwarding algorithms, which do not manipulate tokens in any way other than storing, copying, and forwarding them. Gossip can be completed in linear time in any static network, but a basic open question for dynamic networks is the existence of a distributed protocol that can do significantly better than an easily achievable bound of $O(n^2)$ rounds. In previous work, it has been shown that under adaptive adversaries, every token forwarding algorithm requires $Ω(n^2/\log n)$ rounds. In this paper, we study oblivious adversaries, which differ from adaptive adversaries in one crucial aspect--- they are oblivious to random choices made by the protocol. We present an $\tildeΩ(n^{3/2})$ lower bound under an oblivious adversary for RANDDIFF, a natural algorithm in which neighbors exchange a token chosen uniformly at random from the difference of their token sets. We also present an $\tildeΩ(n^{4/3})$ bound under a stronger notion of oblivious adversary for symmetric knowledge-based algorithms. On the positive side, we present a centralized algorithm that completes gossip in $\tilde{O}(n^{3/2})$ rounds. We also show an $\tilde{O}(n^{5/3})$ upper bound for RANDDIFF in a restricted class of oblivious adversaries, which we call paths-respecting.

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arXiv2016

Optimal Evacuation Flows on Dynamic Paths with General Edge Capacities

A Dynamic Graph Network is a graph in which each edge has an associated travel time and a capacity (width) that limits the number of items that can travel in parallel along that edge. Each vertex in this dynamic graph network begins with the number of items that must be evacuated into designated sink vertices. A $k$-sink evacuation protocol finds the location of $k$ sinks and associated evacuation movement protocol that allows evacuating all the items to a sink in minimum time. The associated evacuation movement must impose a confluent flow, i.e, all items passing through a particular vertex exit that vertex using the same edge. In this paper we address the $k$-sink evacuation problem on a dynamic path network. We provide solutions that run in $O(n \log n)$ time for $k=1$ and $O(k n \log^2 n)$ for $k >1$ and work for arbitrary edge capacities.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2014

Distributed Agreement in Dynamic Peer-to-Peer Networks

Motivated by the need for robust and fast distributed computation in highly dynamic Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks, we study algorithms for the fundamental distributed agreement problem. P2P networks are highly dynamic networks that experience heavy node {\em churn}. Our goal is to design fast algorithms (running in a small number of rounds) that guarantee, despite high node churn rate, that almost all nodes reach a stable agreement. Our main contributions are randomized distributed algorithms that guarantee {\em stable almost-everywhere agreement} with high probability even under high adversarial churn in a polylogarithmic number of rounds: 1. An $O(\log^2 n)$-round ($n$ is the stable network size) randomized algorithm that achieves almost-everywhere agreement with high probability under up to {\em linear} churn {\em per round} (i.e., $εn$, for some small constant $ε> 0$), assuming that the churn is controlled by an oblivious adversary (that has complete knowledge and control of what nodes join and leave and at what time and has unlimited computational power, but is oblivious to the random choices made by the algorithm). Our algorithm requires only polylogarithmic in $n$ bits to be processed and sent (per round) by each node. 2. An $O(\log m\log^3 n)$-round randomized algorithm that achieves almost-everywhere agreement with high probability under up to $ε\sqrt{n}$ churn per round (for some small $ε> 0$), where $m$ is the size of the input value domain, that works even under an adaptive adversary (that also knows the past random choices made by the algorithm). This algorithm requires up to polynomial in $n$ bits (and up to $O(\log m)$ bits) to be processed and sent (per round) by each node.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2014

A Polynomial Time Algorithm for Minimax-Regret Evacuation on a Dynamic Path

A dynamic path network is an undirected path with evacuees situated at each vertex. To evacuate the path, evacuees travel towards a designated sink (doorway) to exit. Each edge has a capacity, the number of evacuees that can enter the edge in unit time. Congestion occurs if an evacuee has to wait at a vertex for other evacuees to leave first. The basic problem is to place k sinks on the line, with an associated evacuation strategy, so as to minimize the total time needed to evacuate everyone. The minmax-regret version introduces uncertainty into the input, with the number of evacuees at vertices only being specified to within a range. The problem is to find a universal solution whose regret (difference from optimal for a given input) is minimized over all legal inputs. The previously best known algorithms for the minmax regret version problem ran in time exponential in k. In this paper, we derive new prop- erties of solutions that yield the first polynomial time algorithms for solving the problem.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2013

Robust Leader Election in a Fast-Changing World

We consider the problem of electing a leader among nodes in a highly dynamic network where the adversary has unbounded capacity to insert and remove nodes (including the leader) from the network and change connectivity at will. We present a randomized Las Vegas algorithm that (re)elects a leader in O(D\log n) rounds with high probability, where D is a bound on the dynamic diameter of the network and n is the maximum number of nodes in the network at any point in time. We assume a model of broadcast-based communication where a node can send only 1 message of O(\log n) bits per round and is not aware of the receivers in advance. Thus, our results also apply to mobile wireless ad-hoc networks, improving over the optimal (for deterministic algorithms) O(Dn) solution presented at FOMC 2011. We show that our algorithm is optimal by proving that any randomized Las Vegas algorithm takes at least omega(D\log n) rounds to elect a leader with high probability, which shows that our algorithm yields the best possible (up to constants) termination time.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2013

Storage and Search in Dynamic Peer-to-Peer Networks

We study robust and efficient distributed algorithms for searching, storing, and maintaining data in dynamic Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks. P2P networks are highly dynamic networks that experience heavy node churn (i.e., nodes join and leave the network continuously over time). Our goal is to guarantee, despite high node churn rate, that a large number of nodes in the network can store, retrieve, and maintain a large number of data items. Our main contributions are fast randomized distributed algorithms that guarantee the above with high probability (whp) even under high adversarial churn: 1. A randomized distributed search algorithm that (whp) guarantees that searches from as many as $n - o(n)$ nodes ($n$ is the stable network size) succeed in ${O}(\log n)$-rounds despite ${O}(n/\log^{1+δ} n)$ churn, for any small constant $δ> 0$, per round. We assume that the churn is controlled by an oblivious adversary (that has complete knowledge and control of what nodes join and leave and at what time, but is oblivious to the random choices made by the algorithm). 2. A storage and maintenance algorithm that guarantees (whp) data items can be efficiently stored (with only $Θ(\log{n})$ copies of each data item) and maintained in a dynamic P2P network with churn rate up to ${O}(n/\log^{1+δ} n)$ per round. Our search algorithm together with our storage and maintenance algorithm guarantees that as many as $n - o(n)$ nodes can efficiently store, maintain, and search even under ${O}(n/\log^{1+δ} n)$ churn per round. Our algorithms require only polylogarithmic in $n$ bits to be processed and sent (per round) by each node. To the best of our knowledge, our algorithms are the first-known, fully-distributed storage and search algorithms that provably work under highly dynamic settings (i.e., high churn rates per step).

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arXiv2012

Localized Geometric Query Problems

A new class of geometric query problems are studied in this paper. We are required to preprocess a set of geometric objects $P$ in the plane, so that for any arbitrary query point $q$, the largest circle that contains $q$ but does not contain any member of $P$, can be reported efficiently. The geometric sets that we consider are point sets and boundaries of simple polygons.

cs.CG↗

arXiv2011

Enforcing efficient equilibria in network design games via subsidies

The efficient design of networks has been an important engineering task that involves challenging combinatorial optimization problems. Typically, a network designer has to select among several alternatives which links to establish so that the resulting network satisfies a given set of connectivity requirements and the cost of establishing the network links is as low as possible. The Minimum Spanning Tree problem, which is well-understood, is a nice example. In this paper, we consider the natural scenario in which the connectivity requirements are posed by selfish users who have agreed to share the cost of the network to be established according to a well-defined rule. The design proposed by the network designer should now be consistent not only with the connectivity requirements but also with the selfishness of the users. Essentially, the users are players in a so-called network design game and the network designer has to propose a design that is an equilibrium for this game. As it is usually the case when selfishness comes into play, such equilibria may be suboptimal. In this paper, we consider the following question: can the network designer enforce particular designs as equilibria or guarantee that efficient designs are consistent with users' selfishness by appropriately subsidizing some of the network links? In an attempt to understand this question, we formulate corresponding optimization problems and present positive and negative results.

cs.GT↗

arXiv2011

Dynamics of Profit-Sharing Games

An important task in the analysis of multiagent systems is to understand how groups of selfish players can form coalitions, i.e., work together in teams. In this paper, we study the dynamics of coalition formation under bounded rationality. We consider settings where each team's profit is given by a convex function, and propose three profit-sharing schemes, each of which is based on the concept of marginal utility. The agents are assumed to be myopic, i.e., they keep changing teams as long as they can increase their payoff by doing so. We study the properties (such as closeness to Nash equilibrium or total profit) of the states that result after a polynomial number of such moves, and prove bounds on the price of anarchy and the price of stability of the corresponding games.

cs.GT↗

arXiv2010

Querying for the Largest Empty Geometric Object in a Desired Location

We study new types of geometric query problems defined as follows: given a geometric set $P$, preprocess it such that given a query point $q$, the location of the largest circle that does not contain any member of $P$, but contains $q$ can be reported efficiently. The geometric sets we consider for $P$ are boundaries of convex and simple polygons, and point sets. While we primarily focus on circles as the desired shape, we also briefly discuss empty rectangles in the context of point sets.

cs.CG↗

arXiv2010

On the Continuous CNN Problem

In the (discrete) CNN problem, online requests appear as points in $\mathbb{R}^2$. Each request must be served before the next one is revealed. We have a server that can serve a request simply by aligning either its $x$ or $y$ coordinate with the request. The goal of the online algorithm is to minimize the total $L_1$ distance traveled by the server to serve all the requests. The best known competitive ratio for the discrete version is 879 (due to Sitters and Stougie). We study the continuous version, in which, the request can move continuously in $\mathbb{R}^2$ and the server must continuously serve the request. A simple adversarial argument shows that the lower bound on the competitive ratio of any online algorithm for the continuous CNN problem is 3. Our main contribution is an online algorithm with competitive ratio $3+2 \sqrt{3} \approx 6.464$. Our analysis is tight. The continuous version generalizes the discrete orthogonal CNN problem, in which every request must be $x$ or $y$ aligned with the previous request. Therefore, Our result improves upon the previous best competitive ratio of 9 (due to Iwama and Yonezawa).

cs.DS↗