Instruct: Identify the main and secondary category of Arxiv papers based on the titles and abstracts
Query: Throughput in Asynchronous Networks   We introduce a new, "worst-case" model for an asynchronous communication
network and investigate the simplest (yet central) task in this model, namely
the feasibility of end-to-end routing. Motivated by the question of how
successful a protocol can hope to perform in a network whose reliability is
guaranteed by as few assumptions as possible, we combine the main
"unreliability" features encountered in network models in the literature,
allowing our model to exhibit all of these characteristics simultaneously. In
particular, our model captures networks that exhibit the following properties:
1) On-line; 2) Dynamic Topology; 3)Distributed/Local Control 4) Asynchronous
Communication; 5) (Polynomially) Bounded Memory; 6) No Minimal Connectivity
Assumptions. In the confines of this network, we evaluate throughput
performance and prove matching upper and lower bounds. In particular, using
competitive analysis (perhaps somewhat surprisingly) we prove that the optimal
competitive ratio of any on-line protocol is 1/n (where n is the number of
nodes in the network), and then we describe a specific protocol and prove that
it is n-competitive. The model we describe in the paper and for which we
achieve the above matching upper and lower bounds for throughput represents the
"worst-case" network, in that it makes no reliability assumptions. In many
practical applications, the optimal competitive ratio of 1/n may be
unacceptable, and consequently stronger assumptions must be imposed on the
network to improve performance. However, we believe that a fundamental starting
point to understanding which assumptions are necessary to impose on a network
model, given some desired throughput performance, is to understand what is
achievable in the worst case for the simplest task (namely end-to-end routing).

29
The categories of this paper are: funct-an
35
The categories of this paper are: mtrl-th
27
The categories of this paper are: comp-gas
25
The categories of this paper are: patt-sol
0
The categories of this paper are: hep-ph
21
The categories of this paper are: adap-org
34
The categories of this paper are: chem-ph
31
The categories of this paper are: ao-sci
11
The categories of this paper are: hep-lat
2
The categories of this paper are: math
3
The categories of this paper are: physics
28
The categories of this paper are: alg-geom
16
The categories of this paper are: stat
9
The categories of this paper are: nlin
33
The categories of this paper are: plasm-ph
12
The categories of this paper are: nucl-th