Efficient Multichannel Rendezvous Algorithms without Global Channel Enumeration

2025-08-31

AI Summary

This paper addresses the multi-channel rendezvous problem (MRP) in IoT networks without global channel numbering. It proposes a lightweight rendezvous framework integrating locality-sensitive hashing (LSH) and consistent hashing. The authors introduce two novel algorithms—LC-LSH and LC-LSH4—the first to incorporate consistent hashing into MRP, enabling support for heterogeneous channel labels, absence of global channel enumeration, and asynchronous communication, while guaranteeing a bounded maximum rendezvous time. The framework further incorporates multi-set-enhanced modular clocks and quasi-random frequency-hopping mechanisms to substantially reduce computational and storage complexity. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves expected rendezvous time competitive with state-of-the-art (SOTA) schemes under both synchronous and asynchronous settings, while exhibiting significantly lower algorithmic complexity—making it particularly suitable for resource-constrained IoT devices.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Intelligent Robots: Localization, Mapping, and Navigation
• Application Domains: Internet of Things, Sensor Networks & Smart Cities

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Algorithms and analysis for incomplete, noisy, or partially observed Web-related graphs

Abstract

The multichannel rendezvous problem (MRP) is a critical challenge for neighbor discovery in IoT applications, requiring two users to find each other by hopping among available channels over time. This paper addresses the MRP in scenarios where a global channel enumeration system is unavailable. To tackle this challenge, we propose a suite of low-complexity multichannel rendezvous algorithms based on locality-sensitive hashing (LSH), tailored for environments where channel labels are unique L-bit identifiers rather than globally coordinated indices. Inspired by consistent hashing techniques in distributed systems, we develop the LC-LSH and LC-LSH4 algorithms for synchronous and asynchronous settings, respectively. These algorithms significantly reduce implementation complexity while maintaining expected time-to-rendezvous (ETTR) performance comparable to state-of-the-art methods that require global channel enumeration. To ensure bounded maximum time-to-rendezvous (MTTR) in the asynchronous setting, we further introduce the ASYM-LC-LSH4 and QR-LC-LSH4 algorithms by embedding multiset-enhanced modular clock and quasi-random techniques into our framework. Extensive simulations demonstrate that the proposed algorithms achieve performance comparable to state-of-the-art LSH algorithms in both synchronous and asynchronous settings, even without a global channel enumeration system.

Problem

• Solving multichannel rendezvous without global channel enumeration
• Developing low-complexity algorithms using locality-sensitive hashing techniques
• Ensuring bounded maximum time-to-rendezvous in asynchronous settings

Innovation

• Uses locality-sensitive hashing for channel rendezvous
• Embeds multiset-enhanced modular clock techniques
• Applies quasi-random techniques for bounded MTTR