Self-Stabilizing Pulse Synchronization Inspired by Biological Pacemaker Networks

We define the “Pulse Synchronization” problem that requires nodes to achieve tight synchronization of regular pulse events, in the settings of distributed computing systems. Pulse-coupled synchronization is a phenomenon displayed by a large variety of biological systems, typically overcoming a high level of noise. Inspired by such biological models, a robust and self-stabilizing pulse synchronization algorithm for distributed computer systems is presented. The algorithm attains near optimal synchronization tightness while tolerating up to a third of the nodes exhibiting Byzantine behavior concurrently. We propose that pulse synchronization algorithms can be suitable for a variety of distributed tasks that require tight synchronization but which can tolerate a bound variation in the regularity of the synchronized pulse invocations.