An Asychronous Algorithm for Scattering Information between the Active Nodes of a Multicomputer System

In this paper we present an asynchronous algorithm for scattering information between the active nodes of a multicomputer system, having a large number of independent computers and workstations that are interconnected by a local area communication network. This algorithm is useful when it is desired to reduce the number of messages and the time delay necessary to transmit information from any node to all the active nodes of the system. The algorithm that we develop is based on one-way messages which are sent by each node, every unit of time, to a randomly selected node. The main advantage of this routing is that it overcomes inactive or faulty machines. We show that for an N node multicomputer in which n nodes are active, it is possible to scatter information to all the active nodes in approximately (1.693 + 1.414(1 - n/N))log* n steps. 0 1986 Academic press, hc.