Execution Latency
UIP sets a new standard for fast and efficient blockchain interactions by achieving execution latency as low as sub-6 seconds for message delivery from the source to the destination chain (depending on the source chain's block confirmation times). This unparalleled speed ensures rapid transaction finality across blockchains, making UIP the go-to solution for high-performance decentralized systems.
As a critical performance metric, execution latency measures the time from when a transaction is submitted to its execution and visibility on the target blockchain. UIP’s advanced architecture, featuring scalable multi-threaded messaging and intelligent transmitters, ensures seamless and reliable cross-chain operations. This section delves into how UIP's innovative design minimizes latency, offering developers and users unmatched speed and efficiency in omnichain applications.
For a deeper analysis, explore the details in our white paper.
Latency Mitigation Techniques in UIP
Best Practices for Minimizing Latency
For applications requiring low latency, developers can utilize blockchains with faster finality and lower congestion risks.
Entangle's developer tools allow fine-tuning of transaction parameters like signature thresholds and finalization intervals.
Parallel Processing via L2 Utility Networks: UIP uses auxiliary blockchains to handle high transaction volumes, reducing congestion on the primary EIB chain.
Transmitter Group Parallelism: Independent groups of transmitters process transactions simultaneously, optimizing throughput.
Automated Gas Price Adjustments: UIP dynamically adjusts gas prices for destination transactions, balancing cost-efficiency with execution speed.
Understanding Key Blockchain Factors
To better understand execution latency, consider familiarizing yourself with the terms below.
Finality: The point at which a blockchain transaction is considered permanent and cannot be reversed. Different blockchains achieve finality at varying speeds: some offer near-instant confirmation, while others require multiple blocks to be added for security assurance. Faster finality is crucial for time-sensitive applications like cross-chain messaging.
Network Congestion: When too many transactions compete for limited blockchain resources, the network can become congested. This congestion slows transaction processing times and may lead to higher fees as users compete for priority. Common causes include sudden spikes in activity, such as NFT drops or token launches.
Gas Price: Represent the fees users pay to incentivize validators to process their transactions. When the network is busy, higher gas prices are often required to secure faster processing, whereas low gas fees might result in significant delays during peak times.
Transmitter Network and Latency
The UIP architecture relies on a decentralized network of transmitters to facilitate seamless cross-chain communication. These transmitters are lightweight, modular, and optimized for minimal latency while maintaining security and scalability. The distributed nature of the transmitter network ensures that latency is distributed and mitigated at each stage. While individual transmitters may experience delays due to specific factors (e.g., network congestion or execution costs), the architecture ensures that no single bottleneck affects the entire transaction lifecycle.
UIP introduces several optimizations to minimize transmitter latency across its network:
Parallel Processing: Multiple transmitter groups handle transactions simultaneously, reducing bottlenecks.
Dynamic Resource Allocation: Transmitters dynamically adjust resource usage based on network demand, ensuring high throughput during peak loads.
Efficient Consensus Mechanisms: Lightweight Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus ensures quick decision-making without compromising security.
There are two primary functions of transmitters in UIP, regular transmission and execution, each performing essential functions to ensure seamless cross-chain communication. Learn More about transmitters.
Transaction Lifecycle
The UIP transaction lifecycle consists of multiple stages, each contributing to overall execution latency.
Event Detection Transmitters on the source blockchain monitor specified events, such as contract interactions or external data triggers. When an event is detected, it is fetched for processing. This step introduces minimal latency due to the polling or event-driven nature of transmitter monitoring. Latency could increase slightly under high network activity or if the transmitters are operating under resource constraints.
Message Transmission Detected events are converted into messages and submitted to the Entangle Interoperable Blockchain (EIB), which manages consensus and routing and handles validation using the master smart contract. In this step, latency arises from the processing power of EIB and the inclusion time of the transaction in its blocks. For high-performance Layer 1 blockchains like EIB, this step is optimized to incur minimal delay.
Consensus Mechanism UIP employs a dual-consensus model utilizing transmitters to ensure secure and decentralized validation. This process involves Transmitters and Executor Transmitters working in tandom, with support from Super Transmitters for additional oversight. For example, transmitters on chain A retrieve event data, validate it, construct a proposal, and sign it to ensure message authenticity. Next, executor transmitters execute the transaction on the destination chain, ensuring proper finalization. Super Transmitters validate the actions taken at each step, adding a layer of security and adherence to protocol standards.
Execution on Destination Chain Once the proposal is validated and signed, executor transmitters retrieve it from the EIB and execute it on the destination chain. The latency at this stage depends on several factors, including network congestion, and gas price dynamics. On high-performance chains, execution can be completed in seconds, but slower chains or those under heavy load may introduce delays.
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