Lossless asynchronous broadcast-with-feedback on the MetaNet architecture

Abstract

Broadcast and broadcast-with-feedback are presented for MetaNet, a novel network architecture which can be viewed as a LAN with an arbitrary topology. The broadcast and broadcast-with-feedback algorithms presented are functionally equivalent to the broadcast on current LANs, e.g., token-ring or Ethernet. The broadcast algorithms are completely loss free under the asynchronous access method. The broadcast is integrated into the routing mechanism such that it can coexist with any traffic pattern. The time complexity of broadcast on the MetaNet (measured in light-load) is O(log n), while on a ring-based LAN the complexity is n. The algorithms can be modified to serve as a multicast procedure.