arXiv subjects

Sébastien Tixeuil

Publications and source records attributed to Sébastien Tixeuil.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

Universal Loop-Free Super-Stabilization

We propose an univesal scheme to design loop-free and super-stabilizing protocols for constructing spanning trees optimizing any tree metrics (not only those that are isomorphic to a shortest path tree). Our scheme combines a novel super-stabilizing loop-free BFS with an existing self-stabilizing spanning tree that optimizes a given metric. The composition result preserves the best properties of both worlds: super-stabilization, loop-freedom, and optimization of the original metric without any stabilization time penalty. As case study we apply our composition mechanism to two well known metric-dependent spanning trees: the maximum-flow tree and the minimum degree spanning tree.

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arXiv2010

On Byzantine Containment Properties of the $min+1$ Protocol

Self-stabilization is a versatile approach to fault-tolerance since it permits a distributed system to recover from any transient fault that arbitrarily corrupts the contents of all memories in the system. Byzantine tolerance is an attractive feature of distributed systems that permits to cope with arbitrary malicious behaviors. We consider the well known problem of constructing a breadth-first spanning tree in this context. Combining these two properties proves difficult: we demonstrate that it is impossible to contain the impact of Byzantine nodes in a strictly or strongly stabilizing manner. We then adopt the weaker scheme of topology-aware strict stabilization and we present a similar weakening of strong stabilization. We prove that the classical $min+1$ protocol has optimal Byzantine containment properties with respect to these criteria.

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arXiv2010

The Impact of Topology on Byzantine Containment in Stabilization

Self-stabilization is an versatile approach to fault-tolerance since it permits a distributed system to recover from any transient fault that arbitrarily corrupts the contents of all memories in the system. Byzantine tolerance is an attractive feature of distributed system that permits to cope with arbitrary malicious behaviors. We consider the well known problem of constructing a maximum metric tree in this context. Combining these two properties prove difficult: we demonstrate that it is impossible to contain the impact of Byzantine nodes in a self-stabilizing context for maximum metric tree construction (strict stabilization). We propose a weaker containment scheme called topology-aware strict stabilization, and present a protocol for computing maximum metric trees that is optimal for this scheme with respect to impossibility result.

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arXiv2010

Construction auto-stabilisante d'arbre couvrant en dépit d'actions malicieuses

A self-stabilizing protocol provides by definition a tolerance to transient failures. Recently, a new class of self-stabilizing protocols appears. These protocols provides also a tolerance to a given number of permanent failures. In this article, we are interested in self-stabilizing protocols that deal with Byzantines failures. We prove that, for some problems which not allow strict stabilization (see [Nesterenko,Arora,2002]), there exist solutions that tolerates Byzantine faults if we define a new criteria of tolerance.

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arXiv2009

Self-Stabilizing Byzantine Asynchronous Unison

We explore asynchronous unison in the presence of systemic transient and permanent Byzantine faults in shared memory. We observe that the problem is not solvable under less than strongly fair scheduler or for system topologies with maximum node degree greater than two. We present a self-stabilizing Byzantine-tolerant solution to asynchronous unison for chain and ring topologies. Our algorithm has minimum possible containment radius and optimal stabilization time.

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arXiv2009

Optimal deterministic ring exploration with oblivious asynchronous robots

We consider the problem of exploring an anonymous unoriented ring of size $n$ by $k$ identical, oblivious, asynchronous mobile robots, that are unable to communicate, yet have the ability to sense their environment and take decisions based on their local view. Previous works in this weak scenario prove that $k$ must not divide $n$ for a deterministic solution to exist. Also, it is known that the minimum number of robots (either deterministic or probabilistic) to explore a ring of size $n$ is 4. An upper bound of 17 robots holds in the deterministic case while 4 probabilistic robots are sufficient. In this paper, we close the complexity gap in the deterministic setting, by proving that no deterministic exploration is feasible with less than five robots whenever the size of the ring is even, and that five robots are sufficient for any $n$ that is coprime with five. Our protocol completes exploration in O(n) robot moves, which is also optimal.

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arXiv2009

Byzantine Convergence in Robots Networks: The Price of Asynchrony

We study the convergence problem in fully asynchronous, uni-dimensional robot networks that are prone to Byzantine (i.e. malicious) failures. In these settings, oblivious anonymous robots with arbitrary initial positions are required to eventually converge to an a apriori unknown position despite a subset of them exhibiting Byzantine behavior. Our contribution is twofold. We propose a deterministic algorithm that solves the problem in the most generic settings: fully asynchronous robots that operate in the non-atomic CORDA model. Our algorithm provides convergence in 5f+1-sized networks where f is the upper bound on the number of Byzantine robots. Additionally, we prove that 5f+1 is a lower bound whenever robot scheduling is fully asynchronous. This constrasts with previous results in partially synchronous robots networks, where 3f+1 robots are necessary and sufficient.

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arXiv2009

Ideal Stabilization

We define and explore the concept of ideal stabilization. The program is ideally stabilizing if its every state is legitimate. Ideal stabilization allows the specification designer to prescribe with arbitrary degree of precision not only the fault-free program behavior but also its recovery operation. Specifications may or may not mention all possible states. We identify approaches to designing ideal stabilization to both kinds of specifications. For the first kind, we state the necessary condition for an ideally stabilizing solution. On the basis of this condition we prove that there is no ideally stabilizing solution to the leader election problem. We illustrate the utility of the concept by providing examples of well-known programs and proving them ideally stabilizing. Specifically, we prove ideal stabilization of the conflict manager, the alternator, the propagation of information with feedback and the alternating bit protocol.

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arXiv2009

Optimal Byzantine Resilient Convergence in Asynchronous Robot Networks

We propose the first deterministic algorithm that tolerates up to $f$ byzantine faults in $3f+1$-sized networks and performs in the asynchronous CORDA model. Our solution matches the previously established lower bound for the semi-synchronous ATOM model on the number of tolerated Byzantine robots. Our algorithm works under bounded scheduling assumptions for oblivious robots moving in a uni-dimensional space.

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arXiv2009

Optimal byzantine resilient convergence in oblivious robot networks

Given a set of robots with arbitrary initial location and no agreement on a global coordinate system, convergence requires that all robots asymptotically approach the exact same, but unknown beforehand, location. Robots are oblivious-- they do not recall the past computations -- and are allowed to move in a one-dimensional space. Additionally, robots cannot communicate directly, instead they obtain system related information only via visual sensors. We draw a connection between the convergence problem in robot networks, and the distributed \emph{approximate agreement} problem (that requires correct processes to decide, for some constant $ε$, values distance $ε$ apart and within the range of initial proposed values). Surprisingly, even though specifications are similar, the convergence implementation in robot networks requires specific assumptions about synchrony and Byzantine resilience. In more details, we prove necessary and sufficient conditions for the convergence of mobile robots despite a subset of them being Byzantine (i.e. they can exhibit arbitrary behavior). Additionally, we propose a deterministic convergence algorithm for robot networks and analyze its correctness and complexity in various synchrony settings. The proposed algorithm tolerates f Byzantine robots for (2f+1)-sized robot networks in fully synchronous networks, (3f+1)-sized in semi-synchronous networks. These bounds are optimal for the class of cautious algorithms, which guarantee that correct robots always move inside the range of positions of the correct robots.

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arXiv2009

A New Self-Stabilizing Minimum Spanning Tree Construction with Loop-free Property

The minimum spanning tree (MST) construction is a classical problem in Distributed Computing for creating a globally minimized structure distributedly. Self-stabilization is versatile technique for forward recovery that permits to handle any kind of transient faults in a unified manner. The loop-free property provides interesting safety assurance in dynamic networks where edge-cost changes during operation of the protocol. We present a new self-stabilizing MST protocol that improves on previous known ap- proaches in several ways. First, it makes fewer system hypotheses as the size of the network (or an upper bound on the size) need not be known to the participants. Second, it is loop-free in the sense that it guarantees that a spanning tree structure is always preserved while edge costs change dynamically and the protocol adjusts to a new MST. Finally, time complexity matches the best known results, while space complexity results show that this protocol is the most efficient to date.

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arXiv2009

Stabilizing Maximal Independent Set in Unidirectional Networks is Hard

A distributed algorithm is self-stabilizing if after faults and attacks hit the system and place it in some arbitrary global state, the system recovers from this catastrophic situation without external intervention in finite time. In this paper, we consider the problem of constructing self-stabilizingly a \emph{maximal independent set} in uniform unidirectional networks of arbitrary shape. On the negative side, we present evidence that in uniform networks, \emph{deterministic} self-stabilization of this problem is \emph{impossible}. Also, the \emph{silence} property (\emph{i.e.} having communication fixed from some point in every execution) is impossible to guarantee, either for deterministic or for probabilistic variants of protocols. On the positive side, we present a deterministic protocol for networks with arbitrary unidirectional networks with unique identifiers that exhibits polynomial space and time complexity in asynchronous scheduling. We complement the study with probabilistic protocols for the uniform case: the first probabilistic protocol requires infinite memory but copes with asynchronous scheduling, while the second probabilistic protocol has polynomial space complexity but can only handle synchronous scheduling. Both probabilistic solutions have expected polynomial time complexity.

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arXiv2009

Optimal Probabilistic Ring Exploration by Asynchronous Oblivious Robots

We consider a team of $k$ identical, oblivious, asynchronous mobile robots that are able to sense (\emph{i.e.}, view) their environment, yet are unable to communicate, and evolve on a constrained path. Previous results in this weak scenario show that initial symmetry yields high lower bounds when problems are to be solved by \emph{deterministic} robots. In this paper, we initiate research on probabilistic bounds and solutions in this context, and focus on the \emph{exploration} problem of anonymous unoriented rings of any size. It is known that $Θ(\log n)$ robots are necessary and sufficient to solve the problem with $k$ deterministic robots, provided that $k$ and $n$ are coprime. By contrast, we show that \emph{four} identical probabilistic robots are necessary and sufficient to solve the same problem, also removing the coprime constraint. Our positive results are constructive.

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arXiv2008

Communication Efficiency in Self-stabilizing Silent Protocols

Self-stabilization is a general paradigm to provide forward recovery capabilities to distributed systems and networks. Intuitively, a protocol is self-stabilizing if it is able to recover without external intervention from any catastrophic transient failure. In this paper, our focus is to lower the communication complexity of self-stabilizing protocols \emph{below} the need of checking every neighbor forever. In more details, the contribution of the paper is threefold: (i) We provide new complexity measures for communication efficiency of self-stabilizing protocols, especially in the stabilized phase or when there are no faults, (ii) On the negative side, we show that for non-trivial problems such as coloring, maximal matching, and maximal independent set, it is impossible to get (deterministic or probabilistic) self-stabilizing solutions where every participant communicates with less than every neighbor in the stabilized phase, and (iii) On the positive side, we present protocols for coloring, maximal matching, and maximal independent set such that a fraction of the participants communicates with exactly one neighbor in the stabilized phase.

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arXiv2008

Universe Detectors for Sybil Defense in Ad Hoc Wireless Networks

The Sybil attack in unknown port networks such as wireless is not considered tractable. A wireless node is not capable of independently differentiating the universe of real nodes from the universe of arbitrary non-existent fictitious nodes created by the attacker. Similar to failure detectors, we propose to use universe detectors to help nodes determine which universe is real. In this paper, we (i) define several variants of the neighborhood discovery problem under Sybil attack (ii) propose a set of matching universe detectors (iii) demonstrate the necessity of additional topological constraints for the problems to be solvable: node density and communication range; (iv) present SAND -- an algorithm that solves these problems with the help of appropriate universe detectors, this solution demonstrates that the proposed universe detectors are the weakest detectors possible for each problem.

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arXiv2008

Bounds for self-stabilization in unidirectional networks

A distributed algorithm is self-stabilizing if after faults and attacks hit the system and place it in some arbitrary global state, the systems recovers from this catastrophic situation without external intervention in finite time. Unidirectional networks preclude many common techniques in self-stabilization from being used, such as preserving local predicates. In this paper, we investigate the intrinsic complexity of achieving self-stabilization in unidirectional networks, and focus on the classical vertex coloring problem. When deterministic solutions are considered, we prove a lower bound of $n$ states per process (where $n$ is the network size) and a recovery time of at least $n(n-1)/2$ actions in total. We present a deterministic algorithm with matching upper bounds that performs in arbitrary graphs. When probabilistic solutions are considered, we observe that at least $Δ+ 1$ states per process and a recovery time of $Ω(n)$ actions in total are required (where $Δ$ denotes the maximal degree of the underlying simple undirected graph). We present a probabilistically self-stabilizing algorithm that uses $\mathtt{k}$ states per process, where $\mathtt{k}$ is a parameter of the algorithm. When $\mathtt{k}=Δ+1$, the algorithm recovers in expected $O(Δn)$ actions. When $\mathtt{k}$ may grow arbitrarily, the algorithm recovers in expected O(n) actions in total. Thus, our algorithm can be made optimal with respect to space or time complexity.

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arXiv2008

Quiescence of Self-stabilizing Gossiping among Mobile Agents in Graphs

This paper considers gossiping among mobile agents in graphs: agents move on the graph and have to disseminate their initial information to every other agent. We focus on self-stabilizing solutions for the gossip problem, where agents may start from arbitrary locations in arbitrary states. Self-stabilization requires (some of the) participating agents to keep moving forever, hinting at maximizing the number of agents that could be allowed to stop moving eventually. This paper formalizes the self-stabilizing agent gossip problem, introduces the quiescence number (i.e., the maximum number of eventually stopping agents) of self-stabilizing solutions and investigates the quiescence number with respect to several assumptions related to agent anonymity, synchrony, link duplex capacity, and whiteboard capacity.

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arXiv2008

Ascending runs in dependent uniformly distributed random variables: Application to wireless networks

We analyze in this paper the longest increasing contiguous sequence or maximal ascending run of random variables with common uniform distribution but not independent. Their dependence is characterized by the fact that two successive random variables cannot take the same value. Using a Markov chain approach, we study the distribution of the maximal ascending run and we develop an algorithm to compute it. This problem comes from the analysis of several self-organizing protocols designed for large-scale wireless sensor networks, and we show how our results apply to this domain.

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