Byzantine dispersion on graphs

Abstract

This paper considers the problem of Byzantine dispersion and extends previous work along several parameters. The problem of Byzantine dispersion asks: given n robots, up to f of which are Byzantine, initially placed arbitrarily on an n node anonymous graph, design a terminating algorithm to be run by the robots such that they eventually reach a configuration where each node has at most one non-Byzantine robot on it. Previous work solved this problem for rings and tolerated up to n − 1 Byzantine robots. In this paper, we investigate the problem on more general graphs. We first develop an algorithm that tolerates up to n − 1 Byzantine robots and works for a more general class of graphs. We then develop an algorithm that works for any graph but tolerates a lesser number of Byzantine robots. We subsequently turn our focus to the strength of the Byzantine robots. Previous work considers only “weak” Byzantine robots that cannot fake their IDs. We develop an algorithm that solves the problem when Byzantine robots are not weak and can fake IDs. Finally, we study the situation where the number of the robots is not n but some k. We show that in such a scenario, the number of Byzantine robots that can be tolerated is severely restricted. Specifically, we show that it is impossible to deterministically solve Byzantine dispersion when k/n > (k − f)/n.