PROPOSAL NUMBER: 0411047 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Rubenstein, Dan INSTITUTION: Columbia University PROPOSAL TITLE: Distributed, Self-Stabilizing Tasking for Emerging Network Environments
This proposal explores distributed algorithms and protocols to perform tasking in emerging networking environments. Tasking is easily described informally as assigning to each network node a job, rsource, or configuration drawn from a relatively small set of possibilities, where the same task may be assigned to multiple ndes. Tasking examples include channel assignment for 802.11 ad-hoc networks, distributing computations in GRID networks, and placing content replicas in P2P networks.
This project contains a significant theoretical component that formalizes the distributed algorithms and protocols, proves self-stability, and formally quantifies bounds on the performance of the tasking result over general network topologies. The distributed protocols are designed for practical implementation, i.e., simplicity of design is preferred over additional optimality. We plan to demonstrate this facet via simulation and prototyping the results from the theoretical work within several emerging network environments including ad-hoc networks and distributed gaming networks. We anticipate dissemination via publication of results in leading conferences and journals, plus public release of software prototypes and simulation packages.
Several short-term goals are tackled under this proposal, including the reduction of messaging overhead, performance of the protocols in which underlying nodes join and leave the network, and variants on optimal configuration such as content popularity and nodes whose tasks are hard-wired. The research is also investigating the application of tasking in two novel environments: channel allocation in multi-hop ad-hoc wireless networks to minimize interference among neighboring nodes, and assignment of tasks to gaming servers to minimize latency in distributed gaming infrastructures.
Dr. Brett D. Fleisch Program Director, CISE/CNS May 26, 2004. .
