Packet Switching Network Performance Indicators as Function of Network Topology and Routing Algorithms

Abstract

We investigate how the network performance indicators , number of packets in transit and average delay time of all packets delivered are affected by network connection topology and routing. We study how they capture the phase transition point (i.e., the critical load of a network). We investigate how additional links added to the network connection topology affect the network performance indicators and the phase transition point. We observe substantial differences in the behaviour of the network performance indicators among the networks with a static routing cost metric (i.e., when the cost of transmission of packets from one router to another is constant over time) and those with the dynamic routing cost metrics (i.e., when the costs of transmission of packets from one router to another incorporate the information about how congested the routers are). We observe, in accordance with other models, that throughput is maximal at the critical load of a network with adaptive routing