Optimal Distributed Arc-Consistency

This paper presents DisAC-9, the first optimal distributed algorithm performing the arc-consistency of a constraint network. Our method is optimal according to the number of message passing operations. This algorithm can firstly, give speedup over the fastest central arc-consistency algorithms. Secondly, achieve the fast processing of distributed constraint satisfaction problems (DCSP). Experimental results use classical benchmarks and large hard randoms problems. These results allow us to give the first characterization of the hardest instances of this distributed computation.