Complex Behaviour for the Origin and Destination Matrix Estimation Problem

The origin and destination （O-D） matrix estimation is an important problem in traffic networks. We apply the gravitation model to express the preference attachment and to analyse the statistical characteristics of the traffic flow in each O-D pair in theory. It is found that the distribution of the future O-D matrix decays as a power law. Additionally, different exponents are obtained for both the constant and variable link cost.     

A spatial weighted network model based on optimal expected traffic

We propose a spatial weighted network model based on the optimal expected traffic. The expected traffic represents the prediction of the flow created by two vertices and is calculated by the improved gravity equation. The model maximizes the total expected traffic of the network. By changing two parameters which control the fitness and the geographical constraints, the model can vary its topology and give rise to a variety of statistical properties observed in the real-world network. Notably, our study shows that a linear and a nonlinear strength-degree correlation can emerge when considering and neglecting the “transport effect”, respectively.     

Dynamics of traffic networks: From microscopic and macroscopic perspectives

Considering the microscopic characteristics (vehicle speed, road length etc.) of links and macroscopic behaviors of traffic systems, we derive the critical flow generation rate in scale-free networks. And the dynamics of traffic congestion is studied numerically in this paper. It is shown that the queue length increases with microscopic characteristics of links. Additionally, the critical flow generation rate decreases with increase of the network size N, maximum speed v_max and parameter τ. The significance of this finding is that, in order to improve the traffic environment, both the local information for the single link and behaviors of the whole network must be analyzed simultaneously in a traffic system design.     

A weighted network evolution with traffic flow

In this paper, we propose a simple weighted network model that generalizes the complex network model evolution with traffic flow previously presented to investigate the relationship between traffic flow and network structure. In the model, the nodes in the network are represented by the traffic flow states, the links in the network are represented by the transform of the traffic flow states, and the traffic flow transported when performing the transform of the traffic flow states is considered as the weight of the link. Several topological features of this generalized weighted model, such as the degree distribution and strength distribution, have been numerically studied. A scaling behavior between the strength and degree s∼klogk is obtained. By introducing some constraints to the generalized weighted model, we study its subnetworks and find that the scaling behavior between the strength and degree is conserved, though the topology properties are quite sensitive to the constraints.     

Unified index to quantifying heterogeneity of complex networks

Although recent studies have revealed that degree heterogeneity of a complex network has significant impact on the network performance and function, a unified definition of the heterogeneity of a network with any degree distribution is absent. In this paper, we define a heterogeneity index 0≤H<1 to quantify the degree heterogeneity of any given network. We analytically show the existence of an upper bound of H=0.5 for exponential networks, thus explain why exponential networks are homogeneous. On the other hand, we also analytically show that the heterogeneity index of an infinite power law network is between 1 and 0.5 if and only if its degree exponent is between 2 and 2.5. We further show that for any power law network with a degree exponent greater than 2.5, there always exists an exponential network such that both networks have the same heterogeneity index. This may help to explain why 2.5 is a critical degree exponent for some dynamic behaviors on power law networks.     

Jamming transition in air transportation networks

In this work we present a model of an air transportation traffic system from the complex network modelling viewpoint. In the network, every node corresponds to a given airport, and two nodes are connected by means of flight routes. Each node is weighted according to its load capacity, and links are weighted according to the Euclidean distance that separates each pair of nodes. Local rules describing the behaviour of individual nodes in terms of the surrounding flow have been also modelled, and a random network topology has been chosen in a baseline approach. Numerical simulations describing the diffusion of a given number of agents (aircraft) in this network show the onset of a jamming transition that distinguishes an efficient regime with null amount of airport queues and high diffusivity (free phase) and a regime where bottlenecks suddenly take place, leading to a poor aircraft diffusion (congested phase). Fluctuations are maximal around the congestion threshold, suggesting that the transition is critical. We then proceed by exploring the robustness of our results in neutral random topologies by embedding the model in heterogeneous networks. Specifically, we make use of the European air transportation network formed by 858 airports and 11 170 flight routes connecting them, which we show to be scale-free. The jamming transition is also observed in this case. These results and methodologies may introduce relevant decision-making procedures in order to optimize the air transportation traffic.     

Transport between multiple users in complex networks

We study the transport properties of model networks such as scale-free and Erd?s-Rényi networks as well as a real network. We consider few possibilities for the trnasport problem. We start by studying the conductance G between two arbitrarily chosen nodes where each link has the same unit resistance. Our theoretical analysis for scale-free networks predicts a broad range of values of G, with a power-law tail distribution $\Phi_{\rm SF}(G)\sim G^{-g_G}$ , where g_G=2λ-1, and λ is the decay exponent for the scale-free network degree distribution. The power-law tail in Φ_SF(G) leads to large values of G, thereby significantly improving the transport in scale-free networks, compared to Erd?s-Rényi networks where the tail of the conductivity distribution decays exponentially. We develop a simple physical picture of the transport to account for the results. The other model for transport is the max-flow model, where conductance is defined as the number of link-independent paths between the two nodes, and find that a similar picture holds. The effects of distance on the value of conductance are considered for both models, and some differences emerge. We then extend our study to the case of multiple sources ans sinks, where the transport is defined between two groups of nodes. We find a fundamental difference between the two forms of flow when considering the quality of the transport with respect to the number of sources, and find an optimal number of sources, or users, for the max-flow case. A qualitative (and partially quantitative) explanation is also given.     

Is the topology of the Internet network really fit to sustain its function?

The Internet is one of the most interesting realizations of a “complex” network. As a non-supervised growing object, it allows the study of the selective pressure which drives the network to assume its current structure. The DIMES and the ROUTEVIEWS projects are ongoing projects aimed at evaluating the topological structure of the Internet (at the Autonomous System or AS grain-level) on the basis of different types of measurements. The topological analysis of the networks produced by the two projects has allowed us to infer a growth mechanism which has been used to build up synthetic networks with similar properties. These networks have been used as test-beds for the implementation of a model of traffic dynamics, with the aim of assessing the ability of the Internet’s topology to support the basic actions for data traffic handling. Results have been compared with those obtained by using a random network of similar size. The effects of some structural perturbations (arcs and nodes’ removal, traffic localization) have been also evaluated in terms of the induced variations of the network’s efficiency. The resulting scenario is consistent with the hypothesis that the structure of the Internet is only partially fit to host communication processes and that the intelligence of the TCP/IP protocol is partly needed to overcome some “structural” deficiencies.     

Decorrelation of networked communication flow via load-dependent routing weights

Clever assignments of link weights are able to change communication routes in such a way that loads are distributed almost evenly across a network. This is achieved by weight assignments based on the link load. As demonstrated for scale-free as well as synthetic Internet networks, they decorrelate the loads of the nodes and links from the network structure and increase the transport capacity of the network. For various Internet scans the increase of transport capacity amounts to a factor of around five when compared to shortest-path routing.     

Effect of edge removal on topological and functional robustness of complex networks

We study the robustness of several network models subject to edge removal. The robustness is measured by the statistics of network breakdowns, where a breakdown is defined as the destroying of the total connectedness of a network, rather than the disappearance of the giant component. We introduce a simple traffic dynamics as the function of a network topology, and the total connectedness can be destroyed in the sense of either the topology or the function. The overall effect of the topological breakdown and the functional breakdown, as well as the relative importance of the topological robustness and the functional robustness, are studied under two edge removal strategies.     

Analysis of the airport network of India as a complex weighted network

Transportation infrastructure of a country is one of the most important indicators of its economic growth. Here we study the Airport Network of India (ANI) which represents India’s domestic civil aviation infrastructure as a complex network. We find that ANI, a network of domestic airports connected by air links, is a small-world network characterized by a truncated power-law degree distribution and has a signature of hierarchy. We investigate ANI as a weighted network to explore its various properties and compare them with their topological counterparts. The traffic in ANI, as in the World-wide Airport Network (WAN), is found to be accumulated on interconnected groups of airports and is concentrated between large airports. In contrast to WAN, ANI is found to be having disassortative mixing which is offset by the traffic dynamics. The analysis indicates possible mechanism of formation of a national transportation network, which is different from that on a global scale.     

Optimal traffic networks topology: A complex networks perspective

We investigate and analyse an optimal traffic network structure for resisting traffic congestion with different volumes of traffic. For this aim, we introduce a cost function and user-equilibrium assignment (UE) which ensures the flow balance on traffic systems. Our finding is that an optimal network is strongly dependent on the total system flow. And the random network is most desirable when the system flow is small. But for the larger volume of traffic, the network with power-law degree distribution is the optimal one. Further study indicates, for scale-free networks, that the degree distribution exponent has large effects on the congestion of traffic network. Therefore, the volume of traffic and characteristic of network determine the optimal network structure so as to minimize the side-effect produced by traffic congestion.     

Traffic dynamics based on a traffic awareness routing strategy on scale-free networks

By incorporating local traffic information into the shortest path routing strategy, we numerically investigate the effectiveness of the traffic awareness routing strategy for scale-free networks with different clustering. In order to characterize the efficiency of the packet-delivery process, we introduce an order parameter and an average transmission time that allow us to measure the network capacity by the critical value of phase transition from free flow to congestion. Compared with the shortest path routing protocol, the network capacity is greatly enhanced by the traffic awareness routing strategy. We also find that there exists an optimum value for the tunable parameter in the congestion awareness strategy. Moreover, simulation results show that the more clustered the network, the less efficient the packet-delivery process.     

Information traffic in scale-free networks with fluctuations in packet generation rate

We study the information traffic in scale-free networks where the information generation rate varies with time as a periodic function. We observe that when the fluctuation in packet generation rate increases, the average transit time increases and network performance degrades. In order to improve the transportation efficiency in this situation, we propose a new routing method called mixed routing. It operates in two modes: (1) when the packet generation rate is small, the shortest paths are used to deliver the packets to the destination; (2) when the packet generation rate is large, the traffic loads in central nodes are redistributed to other non-central nodes, using the so-called efficient routing method. We find that the time shifting between the two modes is very critical for the routing performance. Consequently, we provide an efficient method to determine the critical times to shift the routing modes for achieving good network performance.     

Traffic dynamics in scale-free networks with limited packet-delivering capacity

We propose a limited packet-delivering capacity model for traffic dynamics in scale-free networks. In this model, the total node’s packet-delivering capacity is fixed, and the allocation of packet-delivering capacity on node i is proportional to , where k_i is the degree of node i and ? is a adjustable parameter. We have applied this model on the shortest path routing strategy as well as the local routing strategy, and found that there exists an optimal value of parameter ? leading to the maximal network capacity under both routing strategies. We provide some explanations for the emergence of optimal ?.     

Statistical analysis of the Metropolitan Seoul Subway System: Network structure and passenger flows

The Metropolitan Seoul Subway system, consisting of 380 stations, provides the major transportation mode in the metropolitan Seoul area. Focusing on the network structure, we analyze statistical properties and topological consequences of the subway system. We further study the passenger flows on the system, and find that the flow weight distribution exhibits a power-law behavior. In addition, the degree distribution of the spanning tree of the flows also follows a power law.     

Spatial price dynamics: From complex network perspective

The spatial price problem means that if the supply price plus the transportation cost is less than the demand price, there exists a trade. Thus, after an amount of exchange, the demand price will decrease. This process is continuous until an equilibrium state is obtained. However, how the trade network structure affects this process has received little attention. In this paper, we give a evolving model to describe the levels of spatial price on different complex network structures. The simulation results show that the network with shorter path length is sensitive to the variation of prices.     

A Law of Gravitation for Complex Networks

Inspiring Newton＇s law of universal gravitation and empirical studies, we propose a concept of virtual network mass and network gravitational force in complex networks. Then a network gravitational model for complex networks is presented. In the model, each node in the network is described with its position, edges （links） and virtual network mass. The proposed model is examined by experiments to show its potential applications.     

Network breakdown “at the edge of chaos” in multi-agent traffic simulations

Traffic is highly influenced by network structure and human behaviour. Small changes in the human behaviour can lead to huge changes in the load of a traffic network. Current transportation models do not, and most of them cannot, research such random behaviour but always calculate a steady state. In our multi-agent transport simulation, we frequently observe seemingly random “network breakdowns”, huge traffic jams that spread over a big part of the network, making a normal traffic flow impossible. This paper describes the investigations that were performed on the results of our large-scale multi-agent transport simulations in an attempt to contribute to the better understanding of the dynamic processes in such simulations and, hopefully, better understanding and modelling of the real-world.