3 ms·
> They're going to get all the streetlights in an entire city to blink in unison. Sure they are. Thre are a super simple and effective distributed algorithms f
by klyrs 3y ago
> They're going to get all the streetlights in an entire city to blink in unison. Sure they are.
Thre are a super simple and effective distributed algorithms for this, if each lamp can see another few lamps. They don't even need a good clock, just a relatively stable oscillator within a few percent of a standard frequency, a light sensor and an integrator.
I agree that it's better to just put hoods on the lamps to direct the light to only where it's needed, but distributed synchronization is a solved problem.
- p1mrx 3y agoI find it difficult to believe that a city-wide distributed synchronization algorithm could actually work. How do you deal with the photo-electronic-photo propagation delay, and ensure that each sensor is paying attention to the correct emitters, possibly including itself? Even if you somehow got it to work, one guy with a hacked flashlight could throw the whole thing into chaos.