Comparative Study of Distributed Consensus Gossip Algorithms for Network Size Estimation in Multi-Agent Systems

Determining the network size is a critical process in numerous areas (e.g., computer science, logistic, epidemiology, social networking services, mathematical modeling, demography, etc.). However, many modern real-world systems are so extensive that measuring their size poses a serious challenge. Therefore, the algorithms for determining/estimating this parameter in an effective manner have been gaining popularity over the past decades. In the paper, we analyze five frequently applied distributed consensus gossip-based algorithms for network size estimation in multi-agent systems (namely, the Randomized gossip algorithm, the Geographic gossip algorithm, the Broadcast gossip algorithm, the Push-Sum protocol, and the Push-Pull protocol). We examine the performance of the mentioned algorithms with bounded execution over random geometric graphs by applying two metrics: the number of sent messages required for consensus achievement and the estimation precision quantified as the median deviation from the real value of the network size. The experimental part consists of two scenarios—the consensus achievement is conditioned by either the values of the inner states or the network size estimates—and, in both scenarios, either the best-connected or the worst-connected agent is chosen as the leader. The goal of this paper is to identify whether all the examined algorithms are applicable to estimating the network size, which algorithm provides the best performance, how the leader selection can affect the performance of the algorithms, and how to most effectively configure the applied stopping criterion.

Development of a Mobile Inter-Vehicular Communication System Based on Gossip Algorithm

<h1>Mobile Inter-vehicular communication network is an ad hoc network that allows peer vehicles to share and receive data. The existing inter-vehicular communication approach uses data from a limited number of data sources located in distant areas. This leads to high latency caused by the short-range antennas used to connect the peers. Inter-vehicular networks are dynamic and self-organized networks that do not use any external infrastructure to send and receive data. Currently, inter-vehicular networks only exist as part of a hybrid system and hence there is a need for a faster inter-vehicular network which can function independently. In this study, we developed a model which uses the gossip algorithm to send and receive data. The results show that over time, in a peer-to-peer network, the distance to be covered and the delay time are reduced. In the current models, however, the delay and distance covered remain constant. The results show that a peer-to-peer model is faster.</h1><p> </p>