Packet transmission with a lifetime constraint in scale-free networks

Abstract

In this paper, we study how the lifetime of packets impacts the overall transmission capacity of scale-free communication networks. In our model, we observed an abrupt phase transition of packet loss rate when the packet generation rate increases, based on which we redefined the network capacity as the critical packet generation rate of packet loss. Then, we found a sharp phase transition of network capacity with the increase of packet lifetime, which is also predicted by our analytical results of network capacity. Moreover, we obtained that there is an optimal routing parameter of the tunable path routing algorithm corresponding to the maximum network capacity. Finally, we discussed the influence of network topological structure on the network capacity.