Low Complexity Network Synchronization

Synchronizer γ is the best synchronizer known that works with any type of synchronous model and any network topology. This paper presents three new synchronizers: η 1, η2 and θ. These synchronizers use sparse covers in order to operate and have the following advantages over synchronizer γ: (1) they are conceptually simpler, as only one convergecast and one broadcast processes are performed along each cluster spanning-tree between each two consecutive pulses, and no preferred links are needed for inter-cluster communication. (2) synchronizer η 2 uses half the communication complexity of synchronizer γ, while retaining the time complexity. (3) synchronizer θ uses half the time complexity of synchronizer γ, while retaining the communication complexity. (4) since there is no need to elect preferred links between neighboring clusters, the initialization process of these synchronizers is more efficient: it requires only O(¦V¦log ¦V} + ¦E¦) messages.