What are applications of flooding algorithm?

- Flooding algorithm and its many other variants are used as material distributing algorithm.

- This algorithm distributes the messages to all the hosts in the entire graph. 

- This algorithm since it acts like a flood and therefore has been named so. 

- In this simple yet useful distribution or routing algorithm, every packet that a node receives is transmitted to every other outgoing link. 

This algorithm is available in many variants but in every variant the following two things are common:

1. Each node acting as receiver and transmitter.

2. Each node responsible for forwarding received message to all its neighboring nodes except the one from which the message came. 

- Thus, the messages are eventually delivered to the hosts spread across the network. 

- Flooding algorithm might have been more useful if it would have been more complex. 

- Also, then it would have been possible to avoid the duplicate messages and infinite loops that occur because of them. 

Applications of Flooding Algorithm

In this article we list some of the application of the flooding algorithm.

1. Used in computer networking

2. Used in graphics

3. These algorithms are quite useful for solving numerous mathematical problems such as the maze problems.

4. Used for solving problems in the graph theory. 

5. Used in systems which make use of bridging. 

6. Used in systems like usenet.

7. Implemented in peer – to – peer file sharing

8. Flooding algorithms are often implemented as a part of some of the routing protocols as in OSPF, DVMRP and so on. 

9. It is also used in the protocols used in the ad hoc wireless networks.

10.There is a variant of flooding algorithm called the selective flooding which is capable on addressing various issues of flooding algorithm partially by allowing the packets to be sent only in the appropriate right direction. The packets are not sent on each and every line. 

11. Another variant of the flooding algorithm called the similarity algorithm is used graph matching algorithm. 

- This variant of the flooding algorithm is quite versatile and has got an application in the schema matching. 

- Matching the contents of the two data schemas has got an important role to play in many biochemical applications, e – business and other data warehousing applications etc. 

- The similarity flooding algorithm is based on a computation that is fixed and can be used across a number of scenarios. 

- Two graphs are passed to the algorithm as the input parameters. 

- These graphs might be of catalogs, schemas or even data structures etc. 

- The algorithm then produces a mapping between the corresponding nodes of the two graphs as output. 

- It depends on the goal of the matching what subset of the mapping has to be chosen using filters. 

- After the algorithm has been executed, a human tester is expected is expected to check and verify the results. 

- The results might be adjusted by the tester if required. 

- In this method, the accuracy of the algorithm is evaluated by number of the adjustments that are necessary.

- In some cases, an accuracy metric might be used for the estimation of the labor savings that could be obtained by the users by means of this similarity flooding algorithm for obtaining a first matching pair.

- Finally, this algorithm can be deployed as an operator of very high level in a test bed that has been implemented for the management of the output mappings and the information models. 

- There are different types of matching problems and thus each type requires following a different approach. 

- For example, the relational schemas can only be matched using SQL data types.

Flooding - a kind of static algorithm

An algorithm designed for the distribution of the material to each and every part of the graph is referred to as the flooding algorithm. 

- The algorithm has got its name from the concept that involves inundation caused by a flood. 

- The main application of these algorithms is in graphics and computer networking. 

- These algorithms also come very handy in solving a number of mathematical problems. 

- Examples of such problems that are graph theory problems, maze problems and so on. 

- Flooding algorithm though it sounds complicated is quite a simple one. 

- Here, every incoming packet is sent via every outgoing link. 

- Only the link through which the packet arrived is saved. 

This algorithm has many applications in the following:

1. Systems that require bridging, systems like use net.
2. Peer to peer file sharing.
3. Used as a part of the routing protocols such as the DVMRP, OSPF etc.
4. Used in protocols used for the adhoc wireless networks.

Nowadays the flooding algorithm is available with its many variants. The following are two main steps that each variant follows while working:

1. Each node in the network might act as both receiver and the transmitter.
2. The incoming message is forwarded by the receiving node to each of its neighboring nodes except the one which is the source code.

- This causes the message to be delivered to each and every part of the network that is reachable. 

- Algorithms are required as a precaution for avoiding the wastage of the infinite loops and the duplicate deliveries and for allowing the messages for expiring. 

- All these issues are addressed partially by a variant of the flooding algorithm called the selective flooding.

- The usual flooding algorithm sends the packets to all the routers that lie in the same direction. 

- But the selective flooding algorithm does not send the packet to each router rather it selects only few of them which lie in the right direction approximately. 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Flooding Algorithm

Advantages:

1. If it is possible for delivering the packet, it will be delivered but a number of times.
2. In flooding algorithm every path in the network is naturally utilized and so the shortest path is also used.
3. The implementation of the flooding algorithm is quite simple.

Disadvantages:

1. The cost of the flooding algorithm can be very high because a lot of bandwidth is wasted. Even if there is one destination of the message, it will be sent to all the hosts on the network unnecessarily. If in case there occurs a denial of service attack or a ping flood, the reliability of the whole network will be affected badly.
2. In the computer network, the message might get duplicated. This in turn can increase the load on the bandwidth of the network. This will call for increasing the complexity of the processing for rejecting the duplicates of the messages.
3. The packets that are duplicate might keep on circulating forever, if the following precautions are not taken:

Ø  Using a time to live count or a hop count to be included with every packet. The value of the count has to include the number of the nodes through which the packets have to be passed while on the way to destination.

Ø  Each and every node should be used for keeping track of every packet that passes through it and a packet should be forwarded only once.

Ø  The network topology must be enforced without any loops.