Considering retransmission mechanism and latency for network reliability evaluation in a stochastic computer network

Abstract

Computer systems can be constructed as a network topology with arcs (transmission media) and nodes (data centers). Because ofconditions such as failure, partial failure, and maintenance, arc’s capacity should be considered stochastic. In order to sustain data quality, a data retransmission mechanism is necessary in practical computer networks. Such a mechanism can avoid data error during transmission procedure. Packet unreliability and latency are critical factors to assess the quality of service over the Internet. Therefore, this study focuses on a multistate retransmission flow network to evaluate network reliability that the data can be transmitted successfully with a retransmission mechanism under permitted latency. An algorithm is proposed to generate all lower boundary points satisfying requirements. Then, network reliability can be computed in terms of such boundary points. A numerical case of the China Education and Research Network is demonstrated to illustrate the utility of the proposed algorithm.