Memory Space Requirements for Self-Stabilizing Leader Election Protocols

We study the memory requirements of self-stabilizing leader election (SSLE) protocols. We are mainly interested in two types of systems: anonymous systems and id-based systems. We consider two classes of protocols: deterministic ones and randomized ones. We prove that a non-constant lower bound on the memory space is required by a SSLE protocol on unidirectional, anonymous rings (even if the protocol is randomized). We show that, if there is a deterministic protocol solving a problem on id-based systems where the processor memory space is constant and the id-values are not bounded then there is a deterministic protocol on anonymous systems using constant memory space that solves the same problem. Thus impossibility results on anonymous rings (i.e. one may design a deterministic SSLE protocol, only on prime size rings, under a centralized daemon) can be extended to those kinds of id-based rings. Nevertheless, it is possible to design a silent and deterministic SSLE protocol requiring c...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1999
• Where: PODC
• Authors: Joffroy Beauquier, Maria Gradinariu, Colette Johnen
• Keywords: Constant Memory Space, Distributed And Parallel Computing, Memory Space, PODC 1999, SSLE Protocol