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.     

Hybrid routing on scale-free networks

We propose a novel routing algorithm to optimize traffic performance on complex networks. It combines static structural properties and dynamic traffic conditions together and therefore can balance the traffic between hubs and peripheral nodes more effectively. Simulation results show that the network capacity can be enhanced considerably, and the average traveling time is also shortened sharply, compared with the other two recently-proposed routing algorithms. The effect of the timescale over which the routing information is updated is also investigated. Moreover, a counter-intuitive and beneficial phenomenon about the average traveling time emerges when the packet generation rate is relatively high.     

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.     

一类基于随机行走机理的优化路由改进策略

在对随机行走过程的研究中发现:单个粒子通过某条特定路径的时间正比于该路径上所有节点度的连乘积.据此,文章提出基于随机行走机理的优化路由改进策略.该策略以节点度连乘积最小化为原则,通过调节可变参数,建立节点处理能力均匀分布的情况下最佳路由策略.通过分析比较不同路由策略条件下平均路由介数中心度,网络的临界负载量,平均路径长度以及平均搜索信息量等性能指标,研究结果表明,此改进路由策略在保证网络平均路径长度较少增加的前提下,使网络的传输能力获得最大幅度的提升. 关键词： 复杂网络 路由策略 负载传输     

Generalized minimum information path routing strategy on scale-free networks

This paper presents a new routing strategy by introducing a tunable parameter into the minimum information path routing strategy we proposed previously.It is found that network transmission capacity can be considerably enhanced by adjusting the parameter with various allocations of node capability for packet delivery.Moreover,the proposed routing strategy provides a traffic load distribution which can better match the allocation of node capability than that of traditional efficient routing strategies,leading to a network with improved transmission performance.This routing strategy,without deviating from the shortest-path routing strategy in the length of paths too much,produces improved performance indexes such as critical generating rate,average length of paths and average search information.     

Efficient packet routing strategy in complex networks

We investigate a new efficient packet routing strategy which mitigates traffic congestion on complex networks. In order to avoid congestion, we minimize the maximum betweenness, which is a measure for concentration of routing paths passing through a node in the network. Danila et al. propose a packet routing strategy in which, instead of shortest paths, they used efficient paths, which are the paths with the minimum total summations of weights assigned to nodes in the respective paths. They use a heuristic algorithm in which the weights are updated step by step by using the information of betweenness of each node in every step and the respective total summations of weights for paths through the nodes with large degrees become comparatively large. Thus passage through such nodes, where congestion almost occurs, is likely to be avoided in their algorithm. The convergence time by their algorithm is, however, quite long. In this paper, we propose a new efficient heuristic algorithm which balances traffic on networks by achieving minimization of the maximum betweenness in the much smaller number of iteration steps for convergence than that by the algorithm of Danila et al.     

Optimal routing strategy based on the minimum information path

In this paper, we propose a new routing strategy based on the minimum information path, named the optimal routing (OR) strategy, to improve the transportation capacity of scale-free networks. We define the average routing centrality degree of the node to analyze the traffic load on nodes of different degree. We analyze the transportation capacity by using the critical values of R_c, the average packet travel time, and the average path length. Both theoretical and experimental results show that the capacity of the network under our strategy will be maximized when the packet-delivery rate of the node is directly proportional to the degree.     

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.     

High-performance distribution of limited resources via a dynamical reallocation scheme

Using the context of routing efficiency in a complex scale-free network, we study the problem of how a limited amount of resources should be distributed to the nodes in a network so as to achieve a better performance, without imposing a certain pre-determined distribution. A dynamical reallocation scheme, based on the willingness of sharing resources with a busy neighboring node, is proposed as a tool for allowing an initially uniform distribution of resource to evolve to a high-performance distribution. The resulting distribution gives a critical packet generation rate R_c that is significantly enhanced when compared with evenly distributing the same amount of resources on the nodes. There emerges a relation between the resource allocated to a node and the degree of the node in the form of . The exponent γ is found to vary with the packet generation rate R. For R<R_c, γ takes on a high value and shows a weak dependence on R; for R>R_c, γ drops with R; and for R?R_c, γ saturates. For good performance, the values of γ indicate a behavior different from that linear in k, as often assumed in previous studies. The resource distribution is also analyzed in terms of the betweenness of the nodes.     

A Robustness Model of Complex Networks with Tunable Attack Information Parameter

We introduce a novel model for robustness of complex with a tunable attack information parameter. The random failure and intentional attack known are the two extreme cases of our model. Based on the model, we study the robustness of complex networks under random information and preferential information, respectively. Using the generating function method, we derive the exact value of the critical removal fraction of nodes for the disintegration of networks and the size of the giant component. We show that hiding just a small fraction of nodes randomly can prevent a scale-free network from collapsing and detecting just a small fraction of nodes preferentially can destroy a scale-free network.     

Network traffic behaviour near phase transition point

We explore packet traffic dynamics in a data network model near phase transition point from free flow to congestion. The model of data network is an abstraction of the Network Layer of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnect) Reference Model of packet switching networks. The Network Layer is responsible for routing packets across the network from their sources to their destinations and for control of congestion in data networks. Using the model we investigate spatio-temporal packets traffic dynamics near the phase transition point for various network connection topologies, and static and adaptive routing algorithms. We present selected simulation results and analyze them.     

Integrating network structure and dynamic information for better routing strategy on scale-free networks

We study information packet routing processes on scale-free networks by mimicking the Internet traffic delivery strategies. We incorporate both the global network structure information and local queuing information in the dynamic processes. We propose several new routing strategies to guide the packet routing. The performance of the routing strategies is measured by the average transit time of the packets as well as their dependence on the traffic amount. We find that the routing strategies which integrate both global network structure information and local dynamic information perform much better than the traditional shortest-path routing protocol which takes into account only the global topological information. Moreover, from comparative studies of these routing strategies, we observe that some of our proposed methods can decrease the average transit time of packets but the performance is closely dependent on the total amount of traffic while some other proposed methods can have good performance independent of the total amount of traffic with hyper-excellent average transit time of packets. Also, numerical results show that our proposed methods integrating network structure information and local dynamic information can work much better than the methods recently proposed in [S. Sreenivasan, R. Cohen, E. López, Z. Toroczkai, H.E. Stanley, Phys. Rev. E 75 (2007) 036105, Zhi-Xi Wu, Gang Peng, Eric W.M. Wong, Kai-Hau Yeung, J. Stat. Mech. (2008) P11002.], which only considered network structure information.     

Improved routing strategy based on gravitational field theory

Routing and path selection are crucial for many communication and logistic applications. We study the interaction between nodes and packets and establish a simple model for describing the attraction of the node to the packet in transmission process by using the gravitational field theory, considering the real and potential congestion of the nodes. On the basis of this model, we propose a gravitational field routing strategy that considers the attractions of all of the nodes on the travel path to the packet. In order to illustrate the efficiency of proposed routing algorithm, we introduce the order parameter to measure the throughput of the network by the critical value of phase transition from a free flow phase to a congested phase,and study the distribution of betweenness centrality and traffic jam. Simulations show that, compared with the shortest path routing strategy, the gravitational field routing strategy considerably enhances the throughput of the network and balances the traffic load, and nearly all of the nodes are used efficiently.     

A dynamic routing strategy with limited buffer on scale-free network

In this paper, we propose an integrated routing strategy based on global static topologyinformation and local dynamic data packet queue lengths to improve the transmissionefficiency of scale-free networks. The proposed routing strategy is a combination of aglobal static routing strategy (based on the shortest path algorithm) and local dynamicqueue length management, in which, instead of using an infinite buffer, the queue lengthof each node i in the proposed routing strategy is limited by acritical queue length Q_ic. When the networktraffic is lower and the queue length of each node i is shorter than itscritical queue length Q_ic, it forwardspackets according to the global routing table. With increasing network traffic, when thebuffers of the nodes with higher degree are full, they do not receive packets due to theirlimited buffers and the packets have to be delivered to the nodes with lower degree. Theglobal static routing strategy can shorten the transmission time that it takes a packet toreach its destination, and the local limited queue length can balance the network traffic.The optimal critical queue lengths of nodes have been analysed. Simulation results showthat the proposed routing strategy can get better performance than that of the globalstatic strategy based on topology, and almost the same performance as that of the globaldynamic routing strategy with less complexity.     

一种有效提高无标度网络负载容量的管理策略

现有研究表明明显的社团结构会显著降低网络的传输性能. 本文基于网络邻接矩阵的特征谱定义了链路对网络社团特性的贡献度, 提出一种通过逻辑关闭或删除对网络社团特性贡献度大的链路以提高网络传输性能的拓扑管理策略, 即社团弱化控制策略(CWCS 策略). 在具有社团结构的无标度网络上分别进行了基于全局最短路径路由和局部路由的仿真实验, 并与关闭连接度大的节点之间链路的HDF 策略进行了比较. 仿真实验结果显示, 在全局最短路径路由策略下, CWCS策略能更有效地提高网络负载容量, 并且网络的平均传输时间增加的幅度变小. 在局部路由策略下, 当调控参数0<α<2, 对网络负载容量的提升优于HDF策略. 关键词： 复杂网络 社团特性 负载容量 拓扑管理     

Adaptive local routing strategy on a scale-free network

Due to the heterogeneity of the structure on a scale-free network, making the betweennesses of all nodes become homogeneous by reassigning the weights of nodes or edges is very difficult. In order to take advantage of the important effect of high degree nodes on the shortest path communication and preferentially deliver packets by them to increase the probability to destination, an adaptive local routing strategy on a scale-free network is proposed, in which the node adjusts the forwarding probability with the dynamical traffic load (packet queue length) and the degree distribution of neighbouring nodes. The critical queue length of a node is set to be proportional to its degree, and the node with high degree has a larger critical queue length to store and forward more packets. When the queue length of a high degree node is shorter than its critical queue length, it has a higher probability to forward packets. After higher degree nodes are saturated (whose queue lengths are longer than their critical queue lengths), more packets will be delivered by the lower degree nodes around them. The adaptive local routing strategy increases the probability of a packet finding its destination quickly, and improves the transmission capacity on the scale-free network by reducing routing hops. The simulation results show that the transmission capacity of the adaptive local routing strategy is larger than that of three previous local routing strategies.     

Role of connectivity in congestion and decongestion in a communication network

We study network traffic dynamics in a two dimensional communication network with regular nodes and hubs. If the network experiences heavy message traffic, congestion occurs due to finite capacity of the nodes. We discuss strategies to manipulate hub capacity and hub connections to relieve congestion and define a coefficient of betweenness centrality (CBC), a direct measure of network traffic, which is useful for identifying hubs which are most likely to cause congestion. The addition of assortative connections to hubs of high CBC relieves congestion very efficiently. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Performance enhancement of optical burst switched networks

Optical burst switching (OBS) is an optical switching paradigm which offers a good tradeoff between the traditional optical circuit switching (OCS) and optical packet switching (OPS) since it has the relatively easy implementation of the first and the efficient bandwidth utilization of the second. Hence, OBS is a promising technology for the next generation optical Internet. A buffer-less OBS network can be implemented using ordinary optical communication equipment without the need for either wavelength converters or optical memories. In an OBS network, burst-loss performance is a critical concern. In OBS, the data-burst transmission is delayed by an offset time (relative to its burst control packet (BCP), or header) and the burst follows its header without waiting for an acknowledgment for resource reservation. Thus, a burst may be lost at an intermediate node due to contention, which is generally resolved according to the local routing and bandwidth information. The routing table maintained in each OBS node is generally pre-computed and fixed to forward the data bursts. Such a static forwarding feature might have limited efficiency to resolve contentions. Moreover, a burst may be lost and the network may be congested when a network element (e.g., fiber link) fails. In this paper, an efficient integrated scheme based on dynamic routing and burst segmentation has been proposed to improve reliability of data transport and network load balancing in optical burst switched networks. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach reduces effectively blocking probability and hence contention. Further, it provides end-to-end throughput performance also. Hence, it establishes an appropriate tradeoff between loss rate and end-to-end throughput.     

Optimal structure of complex networks for minimizing traffic congestion

To design complex networks to minimize traffic congestion, it is necessary to understand how traffic flow depends on network structure. We study data packet flow on complex networks, where the packet delivery capacity of each node is not fixed. The optimal configuration of capacities to minimize traffic congestion is derived and the critical packet generating rate is determined, below which the network is at a free flow state but above which congestion occurs. Our analysis reveals a direct relation between network topology and traffic flow. Optimal network structure, free of traffic congestion, should have two features: uniform distribution of load over all nodes and small network diameter. This finding is confirmed by numerical simulations. Our analysis also makes it possible to theoretically compare the congestion conditions for different types of complex networks. In particular, we find that network with low critical generating rate is more susceptible to congestion. The comparison has been made on the following complex-network topologies: random, scale-free, and regular.     

On the critical packet injection rate of a preferential next-nearest neighbor routing traffic model on Barabási-Albert networks

Recently, Yin et al. [Eur. Phys. J. B 49, 205 (2006)] introduced an efficient small-world network traffic model using preferential next-nearest neighbor routing strategy with the so-called path iteration avoidance (PIA) rule to study the jamming transition of internet. Here we study their model without PIA rule by a mean-field analysis which carefully divides the message packets into two types. Then, we argue that our mean-field analysis is also applicable in the presence of PIA rule in the limit of a large number of nodes in the network. Our analysis gives an explicit expression of the critical packet injection rate R_c as a function of a bias parameter of the routing strategy α in their model with or without PIA rule. In particular, we predict a sudden change in R_c at a certain value of α. These predictions agree quite well with our extensive computer simulations.