International Journal of Digital Information and Wireless Communications (IJDIWC) 2(1): 82-85

The Society of Digital Information and Wireless Communications, 2012(ISSN 2225-658X)

A new converge cast algorithm: Application of

procedural distributed recursive wave model and
feedback function
Ha Quoc Trung
School of ICT, Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Vietnam
trunghq@soict.hut.edu.vn

Abstract The distributed recursive wave is a programming model based on distributed procedure call, allowing distributed algorithm
definition using central algorithm. For returning result to calling process, a feedback function is used. Introducing feedback function makes
the DRW more complex, but it allows more control on the execution of the DRW depending on the application needs. With this solution, DRW
can be applicable for collecting, not only for propaganda of information. This DRW with feedback function is applied in the case of network
convergecast problem. Convergecast is one of group communication tasks in distributed systems: convergecast, broadcast, multicast and
unicast. ConvergeCast algorithms allow concentrating network information for calculating of global parameters. When the Converge Cast is
required, information about the network itself such as routing table, network topology is not available. Distributed recursive wave is a way to
construct algorithms that can be customized only by local parameters and functions. Distributed recursive wave then is suitable for
distributed systems having network information dynamically changing without global information. Convergecast can be raw information
collection or aggregation, so the feedback function DRW is suitable to apply to adapt both cases.
This article presents a new converge cast algorithm. This algorithm is experimentally implemented using Shell Script.
Index Terms Distributed Converge Cast, Distributed Recursive Waves

1. INTRODUCTION
Converge cast is one of group communication tasks used
when the communication network of distributed systems is
installed or reconfigured. In this case, the global information
of the system is not ready, so the protocol can only rely on
the local information in each process. This feature is
becoming more important for the continuously changing
systems, depending on the objective and natural factors such
as sensor networks and mobile networks.
Distributed recursive wave is a model enabling the
construction of distributed algorithms with simplicity of the
recursive algorithm, and allowing customizing the
implementation of recursive algorithms with local
parameters. Recursive wave is based on the principle of echo,
being made in two phases: forward phase and echo phase. In
[1] a distributed recursive wave based broadcast algorithm
uses only forward phase because of the nature of the
broadcast algorithm. In [4,5] the authors have proved that
distributed recursive wave is consistent in distributed
systems with no global information.
This article presents the analysis and design of an
algorithm to collect information (forward phase and echo
phase) in a distributed system with the assumption that
global information (network topology) is not available. The
distributed system is assumed to be asynchronous.

The paper is structured as follows: Section 1 gives the

general introduction. Section 2 presents the model of
distributed recursive wave and the way of analysing and
designing distributed algorithms using distributed recursive
wave. Section 3 presents the algorithm to collect new
information. Section 4 describes the implementation of the
algorithm. Finally, the conclusions are found in section 5.

2. DISTRIBUTED RECURSIVE WAVE

Programmatic model of distributed recursive wave
The above introduced model of distributed recursive wave
allow us to design and evaluate the algorithms base on
distributed recursive wave. In order to build a program
implementing the algorithms, we need more programmatic
model. The model is shown on

Figure 1

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International Journal of Digital Information and Wireless Communications (IJDIWC) 2(1): 82-85
The Society of Digital Information and Wireless Communications, 2012(ISSN 2225-658X)
3. CONVERGECAST ALGORITHM USING
DISTRIBUTED RECURSIVE WAVE

Start

Not'Visited

ID'Checking

Next'nodes'
Selec1on

Post'DRW'ac1on

Post'DRW'ac1on

DRW'Execu1on

Comple1on

End

Figure 1: Programmatic Model of Distributed Recursive Wave

In this model, the collection of result can be executed at

the initial node, or partly at the intermediate nodes. This
possibility allows us to customize the computation of the
final result: it can be done at the end on the initial node, or it
can be executed partly when each node finished all outgoing
calls. In this model of the distributed recursive wave, the
distributed call is a function, so in the returning phase, we
face a problem of collecting results.
In [18] presents a feedback function for collecting results.
The collection can be raw, i.e stores all results in an array.
The final result is compute at the root node from all
collected intermediate results. Another way is to collect
information and process computation of partial results at
each intermediate note, send only the results to the parent. In
the general case of ConvergeCast, we dont know which
aggregate function will be process on the collected
information, so we use the raw collection approach. In this
article, we use the feedback function allowing customization
the distribution of the computation quantity on nodes.
In [19], to accelerate the processing of the distributed
recursive wave, to avoid waiting, a non-blocking recursive
call is used and compared with a blocking call solution.
In next section, well present the convergecast algorithm
with feedback function. The function uses blocking call
mechanism.

With the requirements stated in section 1 and the ways to

design the algorithm as in section 2, the convergecast
algorithm will be developed. First, the local variables of each
process will be determined including:
A variable NB: presenting neighborhood nodes of
the node being watched. This variable can also be expanded
to contain more information about the link between the
current node and neighbor nodes. The value of variables can
be determined locally.

Function ConvergeCast(
Data,
ListOfProcessID) Of
List
if not Visited then
R=Converge(Select(Neighbo
rhood));
//Raw collection
Visited=True;
Else
Return FeedBack(R);
//Aggregation possible
end if;
end procedure;
if ProcessID==root then
Visited=False;
Return ConvergeCast();
end if;

Figure 2: Convergecast with feedback function

A visited variable is used to determine the status of

recursive waves (finished / not finished).
A variable R is used to store the results returned
from the process of gathering information. This variable is
only valid when the forward phase ends.
Forward phase is designed according to the strategies of
application. On the basis of recursive waves, there can be the
following possibilities:
One selection: send information to only one process.
All selection: send a message to all neighbor
processes.
Random selection.
Selection according to network data of the local
process.
The selection is generally expressed by a function Select.
With the arguments above, information collecting algorithm
is described as shown in Figure 2: Convergecast function.
The presence of feedback function allows customization
of computing load distribution. In case of general

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International Journal of Digital Information and Wireless Communications (IJDIWC) 2(1): 82-85
The Society of Digital Information and Wireless Communications, 2012(ISSN 2225-658X)
convergecast, the result and input dimension are almost the
same, intermediate computing does not help to improve the
bandwidth consummation; the feedback function will be a
store-collect function. In case of aggregation convergecast,
the result has a small tail, so this aggregation must be
integrated in to the feedback function to decrease the data
size sent.
The complexity of the algorithm depends on the function
Select. In case of all selection, the complexity is () in
which is the diameter of the network. The function Select
can be adjusted to get the implementation process more
efficient, but if the ratio of the number of selected processes
to all of the neighbor processes has a none-zero value as
lower limits, the time complexity is still ().
4. IMPLEMENTATION
In order to implement the algorithm we can use a
simulated or real environment. However, in both cases,
distributed recursive calls need to be supported by the system.
We need to find a distributed system that allows:
Sending a script to a remote computer
Activating and executing the script.
For these reasons, the author has selected Shell Script and
Linux operating system as execution environment. With the
assumption that above actions are supported, function
ConvergeCast() in Figure 2 becomes ConvergeCastImpl()
with shell language as in Figure
3: Implementing
ConvergeCast by Shell.
#!/bin/bash
if [ "$VISITED" = "YES" ]; then echo "Collected
Information"
cat neighbours >return.dat
else
for i in $(cat neighbors); do
scp convergecast root@$i:~/run/convergecast
ssh root@$i 'chmod +x /run/convergecast'
ssh root@$i '/run/convergecast'
ssh root@$i '/run/feedback'
ssh root@$i 'chmod +x /run/feedback'
ssh root@$i 'cat return.dat | /run/feedback' >
temp.dat
scp root@$i:~/run/temp.dat temp
cat temp>>return.dat
export VISITED = "YES"
done
fi

Figure 3: Implementing ConvergeCast with FeedBack by Shell

The program is installed on computers running Linux

operating system, which is configured to connect together
using OpenSSL without password. An overlay network is
built by creating on each computer a neighbor file containing
a list of addresses of neighbor nodes. This is the only
information about the configuration of the system. A

return.dat file used to store returned results. The program

runs correctly, as all the machines in the overlay network
configurations are collected on the root machine. In
experimenting this program, I have also constructed several
scripts that:
Accepts topology configuration text file as the
input, configure the whole system conform to the
topology;
Accepts a shell script file as input for DRW
Accepts command line option to run the algorithm
with predefined number iteration, statistically
compares the obtained results.
The program is tested on various types of network and
function. We have test on topology and max id, computation.
To test that the program is correct, a single machine is used
with multiple IP addresses. Another scenario is to use 5
virtual machines on a physical machine. The program is
executed with 5 topologies. The running time and the
correctness of the result are metrics. The results are shown on
the Table 1 (for max id) and Table 2 (for topology)
Table 1: Running performance for max id calculation
Topology

Diameter

1
2
3
4
5

2
1
1
3
4

Number
of
executions
20
20
20
20
20

Correct
result?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

App.
Time
(ms)
120
100
110
220
250

Table 2: Running performance for topology calculation

Topology

Diameter

1
2
3
4
5

2
1
1
3
4

Number
of
executions
20
20
20
20
20

Correct
result?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

App.
Time
(ms)
130
105
120
225
250

Unfortunately, we are not able to run the algorithm on a

larger system, so the result can show only that the algorithm
is correct. In addition, timing of the OpenSSL activities
influence strongly on. We hope that in the future well be
able to experiment this algorithm on a simulation
environment such as Planet-Lab or G-Lab, so that the results
will be more persuasive.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The article has presented the model of distributed
recursive waves and how to design and analyze a distributed
algorithm based on distributed recursive wave. A new
ConvergeCast algorithm based on distributed recursive wave
has been presented. The complexity of the algorithm does not
change in comparison with other algorithms, but the

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International Journal of Digital Information and Wireless Communications (IJDIWC) 2(1): 82-85
The Society of Digital Information and Wireless Communications, 2012(ISSN 2225-658X)
distributed recursive wave allows customizing the broadcast
process to get effect suitable with the communication
infrastructure.
The algorithm has been installed on Linux using Shell
Script and satisfies the requirements of ConvergeCast
algorithm.
The program can be applied to solve many problems,
such as network routing, network management and network
monitoring. The required condition is to have the equipment
to support Shell in overlay networks.
Based on distributed recursive wave, algorithms can be
developed for environments more complex than distributed
system, with error conditions, more severe operating
conditions of the devices.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was supported by grant B2012-01-30 from
Ministry of Training and Education of Vietnam
[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

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