License: Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-ND 3.0)
When quoting this document, please refer to the following
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2010.2446
URN: urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-24467
URL: http://dagstuhl.sunsite.rwth-aachen.de/volltexte/2010/2446/
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Bienkowski, Marcin ; Klonowski, Marek ; Korzeniowski, Miroslaw ; Kowalski, Dariusz R.

Dynamic Sharing of a Multiple Access Channel

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Abstract

In this paper we consider the mutual exclusion problem on a multiple access channel. Mutual exclusion is one of the fundamental problems in distributed computing. In the classic version of this problem, $n$ processes perform a concurrent program which occasionally triggers some of them to use shared resources, such as memory, communication channel, device, etc. The goal is to design a distributed algorithm to control entries and exits to/from the shared resource in such a way that in any time there is at most one process accessing it.
We consider both the classic and a slightly weaker version of mutual exclusion, called $\ep$-mutual-exclusion, where for each period of a process staying in the critical section the probability that there is some other process in the critical section is at most $\ep$.

We show that there are channel settings, where the classic mutual exclusion is not feasible even for randomized algorithms, while $\ep$-mutual-exclusion is. In more relaxed channel settings, we prove an exponential gap between the makespan complexity of the classic mutual exclusion problem and its weaker $\ep$-exclusion version.

We also show how to guarantee fairness of mutual exclusion algorithms, i.e., that each process that wants to enter the critical section will eventually succeed.

BibTeX - Entry

@InProceedings{bienkowski_et_al:LIPIcs:2010:2446,
  author =	{Marcin Bienkowski and Marek Klonowski and Miroslaw Korzeniowski and Dariusz R. Kowalski},
  title =	{{Dynamic Sharing of a Multiple Access Channel}},
  booktitle =	{27th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science},
  pages =	{83--94},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-939897-16-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2010},
  volume =	{5},
  editor =	{Jean-Yves Marion and Thomas Schwentick},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl--Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{http://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2010/2446},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-24467},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2010.2446},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed algorithms, multiple access channel, mutual exclusion}
}

Keywords: Distributed algorithms, multiple access channel, mutual exclusion
Collection: 27th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science
Issue Date: 2010
Date of publication: 09.03.2010

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