Analysis of asynchronous binary arbitration on digital transmission-line busses

A common misconception is that asynchronous binary arbitration settles in at most four units of bus-propagation delay, irrelevant of the number of arbitration bus lines. The author disproves this conjecture by presenting an arrangement of modules on m bus lines, for which binary arbitration requires [m/2] units of bus-propagation delay to settle. He also proves that for any arrangement of modules on m bus lines, binary arbitration settles in at most [m/2]+2 units of bus-propagation delay