site: add weekly update

Author: will-break-it

site/news/2025-02-03-weekly-progress-summary.md

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+---
+title: Weekly progress summary – February 3, 2025
+authors:
+- will
+tags: [progress, update, weekly]
+---
+
+## High-level summary
+
+This week saw significant progress in cryptography benchmarking and cost
+calculator improvements. The team completed a reference implementation for Leios
+cryptography and enhanced the online cost calculator with user-requested
+features. Both Haskell and Rust simulations received updates to improve
+visualization and network modeling capabilities.
+
+## Haskell Simulation
+
+- Added support for Send and Receive Voting stages
+  - New configuration option `leios-vote-send-recv-stages`
+  - Configurable stage length via `leios-stage-active-voting-slots`
+- Implemented multiple diffusion strategies:
+  - Added oldest-first strategy
+  - Configurable strategies for IBs, EBs, and votes via `*-diffusion-strategy`
+    configs
+- Created new [`small`](../../data/simulation/small) scenario for 100 nodes with
+  2000kBs links
+  - Tuned IB parameters to utilize one-third of link capacity
+  - Configurations for both single-stage and send-recv voting
+- Fixed several simulation behaviors:
+  - Improved block generation logic
+  - Prevented duplicate EB inclusion in base chain
+  - Confirmed proper EB inclusion timing relative to vote diffusion
+- Main difference observed between single-stage and send-recv is the former
+  shows a longer tail in the CPU usage CDF when simulation is run with unlimited
+  cores
+
+## Cryptography Implementation
+
+The Rust benchmarks for Leios cryptography were redesigned as a reference
+implementation:
+
+- Implemented the Fait Accompli sortition
+- Enhanced sortition to use rational arithmetic instead of quad-precision floats
+- Added Quickcheck tests for all capabilities
+- Added benchmarks for serialization
+- Optimized vote and certificate size
+
+## Cost Calculator Improvements
+
+The
+[online Leios cost calculator](https://leios.cardano-scaling.org/cost-estimator/)
+received several enhancements:
+
+- Added support for both hyperscale and discount cloud providers
+- Made discount providers the default option
+- Added option to amortize storage costs perpetually
+- Updated defaults:
+  - Single relay deployment
+  - More conservative 50% disk compression
+  - Perpetual storage cost amortization
+
+## Throughput Simulator
+
+Updated the
+[Cardano throughput simulator](https://www.insightmaker.com/insight/4DU4kmFVCFDaq30ux29PCe/Cardano-Throughput-v0-3)
+with:
+
+- Latest cloud-computing cost model
+- Synchronized assumptions with online cost calculator
+
+## Rust Simulation
+
+- Minor fixes to new graph generation strategy
+- Planned out a roadmap for visualization work focusing on Leios transaction
+  lifecycle