Efficiency of Unicast and Broadcast Gossip Algorithms for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Gossip is a well-known technique for distributed computing in an arbitrarily connected network, that can be adopted effectively in wireless sensor networks. Gossip algorithms have been widely studied in previous literature, but mostly from a theoretical point of view. The aim of this paper isto verify the behavior of the gossip approach in practicalscenarios, through the analysis and interpretation of simulated results. So, we investigate the impact of optimizing the neighbor selection probabilities, the effect of multiple link failures and that of limited transmission radius. The possibility to use broadcast-like algorithms to increase the rate of convergence in averaging problems is also discussed and its advantage estimated.