The problem solved in this work is how multiple nodes in a network with an arbitrary topology can broadcast concurrently, in an asynchronous manner, to all other nodes. Asynchronous means that the nodes do not coordinate their broadcast, and, therefore, it is possible that all nodes will start to broadcast at the same time. Simultaneous broadcast by many nodes can cause traffic congestion, which can result in a traffic loss. The main property of the broadcast algorithms presented in this work is that under any arbitrary broadcast pattern there will be no packet or cell loss due to internal traffic congestion. The routing mechanism used by the broadcast algorithm can be viewed as a variant of deflection routing, which means that a node makes on-line routing decisions based on the local flow of traffic (i.e., internal load conditions). Unlike other deflection techniques, the MetaNet routing is along a global sense of direction, which guarantees that packets will reach their destinations. Thus, we call this method convergence routing (previous deflection algorithms did not guarantee deterministic routing convergence, i.e., a cell/packet can be deflected indefinitely inside the network). As a result of the convergence property, the deflection routing used in this work is the only one with broadcast capability.
['Yoram Ofek', 'Bülent Yener', 'Moti Yung']
Concurrent asynchronous broadcast on the MetaNet