GOSH! Gossiping Optimization Search Heuristics

While the use of distributed computing in search and optimization problems has a long research history, most efforts have been devoted to parallel implementations with strict synchronization requirements or to distributed architectures where a central server coordinates the work of clients by partitioning the search space or working as a status repository. In this paper we discuss the distributed implementation of global function optimization through decentralized processing in a peer-to-peer fashion, where relevant information is exchanged among nodes by means of epidemic protocols. A key issue in such setting is the degradation of the quality of the solution due to the lack of complete information about the global search status. A tradeoff between message complexity and solution quality must be investigated. Preliminary computational results in a simplified setting, reported in the experimental section, show that research in the field is motivated.

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