Fast leader election in anonymous rings with bounded expected delay

We propose a probabilistic network model, called asynchronous bounded expected delay (ABE), which requires a known bound on the expected message delay. In ABE networks all asynchronous executions are possible, but executions with extremely long delays are less probable. Thus, the ABE model captures asynchrony that occurs in sensor networks and ad-hoc networks.At the example of an election algorithm, we show that the minimal assumptions of ABE networks are sufficient for the development of efficient algorithms. For anonymous, unidirectional ABE rings of known size n   we devise a probabilistic election algorithm having average message and time complexity O(n)O(n).

► We propose a probabilistic network model ABE. ► ABE requires only a known bound on the expected message delay. ► The minimal assumptions are sufficient for the development of efficient algorithms. ► Our election algorithm for ABE rings has linear average message and time complexity.