Adaptive jitter control for UPnP M-search

Selected service-discovery systems allow clients to issue multicast queries to locate network devices and services. Qualifying devices and services respond directly to clients; thus in large network, potential exists for responses to implode on a client, overrunning available resources. To limit implosion, one service-discovery system, UPnP, permits clients to include a jitter bound in multicast (M-search) queries. Qualifying devices use the jitter bound to randomize timing of their responses. Initially, clients lack sufficient knowledge to select an appropriate jitter bound, which varies with network size. In this paper, we characterize the performance of UPnP M-search for various combinations of jitter bound and network size. In addition, we evaluate the performance and costs of four algorithms that might be used for adaptive jitter control. Finally, we suggest an alternative to M-search for large networks.