On the Possibility of Consensus in Asynchronous Systems with Finite Average Response Times

Research output: Contribution to conferencesPaperContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

It has long been known that the consensus problem cannot be solved deterministically in completely asynchronous distributed systems, i.e., systems (1) without assumptions on communication delays and relative speed of processes and (2) without access to real-time clocks. In this paper, we define a new asynchronous system model. Instead of assuming reliable channels with finite transmission delays, stubborn channels with a finite average response time was assumed (if neither the sender nor the receiver crashes), and it is assumed that there exists some unknown physical bound on how fast an integer can be incremented. Note that there is no limit on how slow a program can be executed or how fast other statements can be executed. Also, there exists no upper or lower bound on the transmission delay of messages or the relative speed of processes. The are no additional assumptions about clocks, failure detectors, etc. that would aid in solving consensus either. It is shown that consensus can nevertheless be solved deterministically in this asynchronous system model

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages271-280
Number of pages10
Publication statusPublished - 2005
Peer-reviewedYes

Conference

Title2005 25th IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems
Abbreviated titleICDCS 2005
Conference number25
Duration6 - 10 June 2005
Degree of recognitionInternational event
CityColumbus
CountryUnited States of America

External IDs

Scopus 27944456141

Keywords

Research priority areas of TU Dresden

DFG Classification of Subject Areas according to Review Boards

Keywords

  • impossibility, consensus, asynchronous systems, eventually perfect failure detector, time factors, Clocks, Tetectors, Delay effects, Distributed computing, Real time systems, Computer crashes, IEEE news, Synchronization, channel estimation, distributed algorithms, failure analysis, Mobile computing, reliability, consensus possibility, finite average response timies, deterministic solving, distri, stubborn channels