Dynamic routing in circuit-switched non-hierarchical networks

This thesis studies dynamic routing in circuit-switched non-hierarchical networks based on learning automata algorithms. The application of a mathematical model for a linear reward penalty algorithm is explained. Theoretical results for this scheme verified by simulations shows the accuracy of the model. Using simulation and analysis, learning automata algorithms are compared to several other strategies on different networks. The implemented test networks may be classified into two groups. The first group are designed for fixed routing and in such networks fixed routing performs better than any dynamic routing scheme. It will be shown that dynamic routing strategies perform as well as fixed routing when trunk reservation is employed. The second group of networks are designed for dynamic routing and trunk reservation deteriorates the performance. Comparison of different routing algorithms on small networks designed to force dynamic routing demonstrates the superiority of automata under both normal and failure conditions. The thesis also considers the instability problem in non-hierarchical circuit-switched networks when dynamic routing is implemented. It is shown that trunk reservation prevents instability and increases the carried load at overloads. Finally a set of experiments are performed on large networks with realistic capacity and traffic matrices. Simulation and analytic results show that dynamic routing outperforms fixed routing and trunk reservation deteriorates the performance at low values of overload. At high overloads, optimization of trunk reservation is necessary for this class of networks. Comparison results show the improved performance with automata schemes under both normal and abnormal traffic conditions. The thesis concludes with a discussion of proposed further work including expected developments in Integrated Service Digital Networks

Topological Design of Multiple Virtual Private Networks UTILIZING SINK-TREE PATHS

With the deployment of MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) over a core backbone networks, it is possible for a service provider to built Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) supporting various classes of services with QoS guarantees. Efficiently mapping the logical layout of multiple VPNs over a service provider network is a challenging traffic engineering problem. The use of sink-tree (multipoint-to-point) routing paths in a MPLS network makes the VPN design problem different from traditional design approaches where a full-mesh of point-to-point paths is often the choice. The clear benefits of using sink-tree paths are the reduction in the number of label switch paths and bandwidth savings due to larger granularities of bandwidth aggregation within the network. In this thesis, the design of multiple VPNs over a MPLS-like infrastructure network, using sink-tree routing, is formulated as a mixed integer programming problem to simultaneously find a set of VPN logical topologies and their dimensions to carry multi-service, multi-hour traffic from various customers. Such a problem formulation yields a NP-hard complexity. A heuristic path selection algorithm is proposed here to scale the VPN design problem by choosing a small-but-good candidate set of feasible sink-tree paths over which the optimal routes and capacity assignments are determined. The proposed heuristic has clearly shown to speed up the optimization process and the solution can be obtained within a reasonable time for a realistic-size network. Nevertheless, when a large number of VPNs are being layout simultaneously, a standard optimization approach has a limited scalability. Here, the heuristics termed the Minimum-Capacity Sink-Tree Assignment (MCSTA) algorithm proposed to approximate the optimal bandwidth and sink-tree route assignment for multiple VPNs within a polynomial computational time. Numerical results demonstrate the MCSTA algorithm yields a good solution within a small error and sometimes yields the exact solution. Lastly, the proposed VPN design models and solution algorithms are extended for multipoint traffic demand including multipoint-to-point and broadcasting connections

Optimal admission policies for small star networks

In this thesis admission stationary policies for small Symmetric Star telecommunication networks in which there are two types of calls requesting access are considered. Arrivals form independent Poisson streams on each route. We consider the routing to be fixed. The holding times of the calls are exponentially distributed periods of time. Rewards are earned for carrying calls and future returns are discounted at a fixed rate. The operation of the network is viewed as a Markov Decision Process and we solve the optimality equation for this network model numerically for a range of small examples by using the policy improvement algorithm of Dynamic Programming. The optimal policies we study involve acceptance or rejection of traffic requests in order to maximise the Total Expected Discounted Reward. Our Star networks are in some respect the simplest networks more complex than single links in isolation but even so only very small examples can be treated numerically. From those examples we find evidence that suggests that despite their complexity, optimal policies have some interesting properties. Admission Price policies are also investigated in this thesis. These policies are not optimal but they are believed to be asymptotically optimal for large networks. In this thesis we investigate if such policies are any good for small networks; we suggest that they are. A reduced state-space model is also considered in which a call on a 2-link route, once accepted, is split into two independent calls on the links involved. This greatly reduces the size of the state-space. We present properties of the optimal policies and the Admission Price policies and conclude that they are very good for the examples considered. Finally we look at Asymmetric Star networks with different number of circuits per link and different exponential holding times. Properties of the optimal policies as well as Admission Price policies are investigated for such networks

Call admission and routing in telecommunication networks.

by Kit-man Chan.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-86).Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter 1.1 --- Overview of Integrated Service Digital Networks --- p.1Chapter 1.2 --- Multirate Loss Networks --- p.5Chapter 1.3 --- Previous Work --- p.7Chapter 1.4 --- Organization --- p.11Chapter 1.5 --- Publications --- p.12Chapter 2 --- Call Admission in Multirate Loss Networks --- p.13Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.13Chapter 2.2 --- Two Adaptive Routing Rules --- p.15Chapter 2.3 --- Call Admission Policies --- p.17Chapter 2.4 --- Analysis of Call Admission Policies --- p.25Chapter 2.4.1 --- "The CS, LO, GB and the EB Policies" --- p.25Chapter 2.4.2 --- The DP Policy --- p.29Chapter 2.5 --- Performance Comparisons --- p.32Chapter 2.6 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.35Chapter 3 --- Least Congestion Routing in Multirate Loss Networks --- p.41Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.41Chapter 3.2 --- The M2 and MTB Routings --- p.42Chapter 3.2.1 --- M2 Routing --- p.43Chapter 3.2.2 --- MTB Routing --- p.43Chapter 3.3 --- Bandwidth Sharing Policies and State Aggregation --- p.45Chapter 3.4 --- Analysis of M2 Routing --- p.47Chapter 3.5 --- Analysis of MTB Routing --- p.50Chapter 3.6 --- Numerical Results and Discussions --- p.53Chapter 3.7 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.56Chapter 4 --- The Least Congestion Routing in WDM Lightwave Networks --- p.60Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.60Chapter 4.2 --- Architecture and Some Design Issues --- p.62Chapter 4.3 --- The Routing Rule --- p.66Chapter 4.4 --- Analysis of the LC Routing Rule --- p.67Chapter 4.4.1 --- Fixed Point Model --- p.67Chapter 4.4.2 --- Without Direct-link Priority --- p.68Chapter 4.4.3 --- With Direct-link Priority --- p.72Chapter 4.5 --- Performance Comparisons --- p.73Chapter 4.6 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.75Chapter 5 --- Conclusions and Future Work --- p.79Chapter 5.1 --- Future Work --- p.8

Simulation and analysis of adaptive routing and flow control in wide area communication networks

This thesis presents the development of new simulation and analytic models for the performance analysis of wide area communication networks. The models are used to analyse adaptive routing and flow control in fully connected circuit switched and sparsely connected packet switched networks. In particular the performance of routing algorithms derived from the L(_R-I) linear learning automata model are assessed for both types of network. A novel architecture using the INMOS Transputer is constructed for simulation of both circuit and packet switched networks in a loosely coupled multi- microprocessor environment. The network topology is mapped onto an identically configured array of processing centres to overcome the processing bottleneck of conventional Von Neumann architecture machines. Previous analytic work in circuit switched work is extended to include both asymmetrical networks and adaptive routing policies. In the analysis of packet switched networks analytic models of adaptive routing and flow control are integrated to produce a powerful, integrated environment for performance analysis The work concludes that routing algorithms based on linear learning automata have significant potential in both fully connected circuit switched networks and sparsely connected packet switched networks

Saturation routing for asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks

The main objective of this thesis is to show that saturation routing, often in the past considered inefficient, can in fact be a viable approach to use in many important applications and services over an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network. For other applications and services, a hybrid approach (one that partially uses saturation routing) is presented. First, the minimum effects of saturation routing are demonstrated by showing that the ratio, defined as f, of routing overhead cells over information cells is small even for large networks. Second, modeling and simulation and M/D/l queuing analysis techniques are used to show that the overall effect on performance when using saturation routing is not significant over ATM networks. Then saturation routing ATM implementation is also provided, with important extensions to services such as multicast routing. After an analytical comparison, in terms of routing overhead, is made between Saturation Routing and the currently proposed Private Network-Network Interface (PNNI) procedure for ATM routing made by the ATM forum. This comparison is made for networks of different sizes (343node and 2401 -node networks) and different number of hierarchical levels (3 and 4 levels of hierarchy). The results show that the higher the number of levels of hierarchy and the farthest (in terms of hierarchical levels) the source and the destination nodes are from each other, the more advantageous saturation routing becomes. Finally, a set of measures of performance for use by saturation routing (or any routing algorithm), as metrics for routing path selection, is proposed. Among these measures, an innovative new measure of performance derived for measuring quality of service provided to Constant Bit Rate (CBR) users (e.g., such as voice and video users) called the Burst Voice Arrival Lag (BVAL) is described and derived

Cross-layer energy optimisation of routing protocols in wireless sensor networks

Recent technological developments in embedded systems have led to the emergence of a new class of networks, known asWireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), where individual nodes cooperate wirelessly with each other with the goal of sensing and interacting with the environment.Many routing protocols have been developed tomeet the unique and challenging characteristics of WSNs (notably very limited power resources to sustain an expected lifetime of perhaps years, and the restricted computation, storage and communication capabilities of nodes that are nonetheless required to support large networks and diverse applications). No standards for routing have been developed yet for WSNs, nor has any protocol gained a dominant position among the research community. Routing has a significant influence on the overall WSN lifetime, and providing an energy efficient routing protocol remains an open problem. This thesis addresses the issue of designing WSN routing methods that feature energy efficiency. A common time reference across nodes is required in mostWSN applications. It is needed, for example, to time-stamp sensor samples and for duty cycling of nodes. Alsomany routing protocols require that nodes communicate according to some predefined schedule. However, independent distribution of the time information, without considering the routing algorithm schedule or network topology may lead to a failure of the synchronisation protocol. This was confirmed empirically, and was shown to result in loss of connectivity. This can be avoided by integrating the synchronisation service into the network layer with a so-called cross-layer approach. This approach introduces interactions between the layers of a conventional layered network stack, so that the routing layer may share information with other layers. I explore whether energy efficiency can be enhanced through the use of cross-layer optimisations and present three novel cross-layer routing algorithms. The first protocol, designed for hierarchical, cluster based networks and called CLEAR (Cross Layer Efficient Architecture for Routing), uses the routing algorithm to distribute time information which can be used for efficient duty cycling of nodes. The second method - called RISS (Routing Integrated Synchronization Service) - integrates time synchronization into the network layer and is designed to work well in flat, non-hierarchical network topologies. The third method - called SCALE (Smart Clustering Adapted LEACH) - addresses the influence of the intra-cluster topology on the energy dissipation of nodes. I also investigate the impact of the hop distance on network lifetime and propose a method of determining the optimal location of the relay node (the node through which data is routed in a two-hop network). I also address the problem of predicting the transition region (the zone separating the region where all packets can be received and that where no data can be received) and I describe a way of preventing the forwarding of packets through relays belonging in this transition region. I implemented and tested the performance of these solutions in simulations and also deployed these routing techniques on sensor nodes using TinyOS. I compared the average power consumption of the nodes and the precision of time synchronization with the corresponding parameters of a number of existing algorithms. All proposed schemes extend the network lifetime and due to their lightweight architecture they are very efficient on WSN nodes with constrained resources. Hence it is recommended that a cross-layer approach should be a feature of any routing algorithm for WSNs

A year 2003 conceptual model for the U.S. telecommunications infrastructure.

To model the telecommunications infrastructure and its role and robustness to shocks, we must characterize the business and engineering of telecommunications systems in the year 2003 and beyond. By analogy to environmental systems modeling, we seek to develop a 'conceptual model' for telecommunications. Here, the conceptual model is a list of high-level assumptions consistent with the economic and engineering architectures of telecommunications suppliers and customers, both today and in the near future. We describe the present engineering architectures of the most popular service offerings, and describe the supplier markets in some detail. We also develop a characterization of the customer base for telecommunications services and project its likely response to disruptions in service, base-lining such conjectures against observed behaviors during 9/11