Structured Indirect Communication Decentralised Architecture

A decentralised peer-to-peer architecture is one that does not contain any central point of control or focus. Each node within the network is regarded as being of equal standing.

 

As with direct communication architectures, in this architecture all nodes are regarded as equal and autonomous. There is no single node that maintains any control over the network, and any data and computation that is required can be spread out over all the nodes.

 

What differentiates this architecture is that it is not necessarily the case that all nodes can communicate directly with one another. Instead, nodes that are not directly connected to one another can communicate by sending messages via another node. So, for example, in the diagram below node r is not directly connected to node t but it can still communicate with this node by having its messages relayed by node s.

Various types of network topologies could be adopted, including hierarchy, ring and star structures.

 

Using an indirect network architecture can overcome the scalability problem that hinders a direct communication approach. However, indirect communication architectures are particularly adaptable and have been known to evolve over time. Consequently a degree of management may be required to ensure that the architecture’s structure persists.