Analysis and simulation of multiple-ring token networks

The paper presents an extended analysis for multiple token ring networks given by Yang et al (1986). The authors generalised the results in two ways: (a) for any load condition, i.e. for very lightly loaded networks to heavily loaded networks; (b) for any packet size, i.e. very small packet size (only a few bytes long) to very large packet size (several K-bytes long). The authors also obtain the optimum number of rings for various configurations to achieve minimum mean transfer time. The results show that the best ratio of number of rings to number of stations is 0.2 to 0.5, but the exact number varies nonlinearly with respect to load