Efficient parallel algorithms can be made robust

Abstract

The efficient parallel algorithms proposed for many fundamental problems, such as list ranking, computing preorder numberings and other functions on trees, or integer sorting, are very sensitive to processor failures. The requirement of efficiency (commonly formalized using Parallel-time x Processors as a cost measure) has led to the design of highly tuned PRAM algorithms which, given the additional constraint of simple processor failures, unfortunately become inefficient or even incorrect. We propose a new notion of robustness, that combines efficiency with fault tolerance. For the common case of fail-stop errors, we develop a general (and easy to implement) technique to make robust many efficient parallel algorithms, e.g., algorithms for all the problems listed above. More specifically, for any dynamic pattern of fail-stop errors with at least one surviving processor, our method increases the original algorithm cost by at most a multiplicative factor polylogarithmic in the input size.