Constructing efficient peer-to-peer overlay topologies by adaptive connection establishment

A Reciprocal Capacity based Adaptive Topology Protocol (RC-ATP) is proposed in this paper to construct efficient peer-to-peer networks. It is based on the rational belief that a peer is only willing to maintain connections with those which will benefit it in future. Reciprocal capacity is defined based on peers’ capacity of providing services and of recommending service providers. As a result, reciprocal peers connect each other adequately. Therefore, the resulting topologies are more efficient and resilient than Adaptive Peer-to-Peer Topologies (APT). Furthermore, RC-ATP has the intrinsic incentive to active peers as they are more advantaged and important in the network than freeriders and malicious peers. Although the overhead of the topology adaptation is a bit higher, RC-ATP works more efficiently with less cost compared with the Adaptive Peer-to-Peer Topologies Protocol (APTP).