Black hole search in common interconnection networks

Mobile agents operating in networked environments face threats from other agents as well as from the hosts (i.e., network sites) they visit. A black hole is a harmful host that destroys incoming agents without leaving any trace. To determine the location of such a harmful host is a dangerous but crucial task, called black hole search. The most important parameter for a solution strategy is the number of agents it requires (the size); the other parameter of interest is the total number of moves performed by the agents (the cost). It is known that at least two agents are needed; furthermore, with full topological knowledge, (n log n) moves are required in arbitrary networks. The natural question is whether, in specific networks, it is possible to obtain (topology-dependent but) more cost efficient solutions. It is known that this is not the case for rings. In this paper, we show that this negative result does not generalizes. In fact, we present a general strategy that allows two agents...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2006
• Where: NETWORKS
• Authors: Stefan Dobrev, Paola Flocchini, Rastislav Kralovic, Peter Ruzicka, Giuseppe Prencipe, Nicola Santoro
• Keywords: Black Hole, Computer Networks, Harmful Host, Mobile Agents, NETWORKS 2006