Search Result Caching in Peer-to-Peer Information Retrieval Networks

For peer-to-peer web search engines it is important to quickly process queries and return search results. How to keep the perceived latency low is an open challenge. In this paper we explore the solution potential of search result caching in large-scale peer-to-peer information retrieval networks by simulating such networks with increasing levels of realism. We find that a small bounded cache offers performance comparable to an unbounded cache. Furthermore, we explore partially centralised and fully distributed scenarios, and find that in the most realistic distributed case caching can reduce the query load by thirty-three percent. With optimisations this can be boosted to nearly seventy percent.