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A Model of an Amorphous Computer and Its Communication Protocol

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SOFSEM 2007: Theory and Practice of Computer Science (SOFSEM 2007)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 4362))

Abstract

We design a formal model of an amorphous computer suitable for theoretical investigation of its computational properties. The model consists of a finite set of nodes created by RAMs with restricted memory, which are dispersed uniformly in a given area. Within a limited radius the nodes can communicate with their neighbors via a single-channel radio. The assumptions on low-level communication abilities are among the weakest possible: the nodes work asynchronously, there is no broadcasting collision detection mechanism and no network addresses. For the underlying network we design a randomized communication protocol and analyze its efficiency. The subsequent experiments and combinatorial analysis of random networks show that the expectations under which our protocol was designed are met by the vast majority of the instances of our amorphous computer model.

This research was carried out within the institutional research plan AV0Z10300504 and partially supported by the GA ČR grant No. 1ET100300419 and GD201/05/H014.

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Jan van Leeuwen Giuseppe F. Italiano Wiebe van der Hoek Christoph Meinel Harald Sack František Plášil

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Petrů, L., Wiedermann, J. (2007). A Model of an Amorphous Computer and Its Communication Protocol. In: van Leeuwen, J., Italiano, G.F., van der Hoek, W., Meinel, C., Sack, H., Plášil, F. (eds) SOFSEM 2007: Theory and Practice of Computer Science. SOFSEM 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4362. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69507-3_38

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69507-3_38

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-69506-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69507-3

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