A Distributed Flow Control with Backward Propagation

In this paper, using an autonomous and distributed approach, we aim at realizing a control mechanism, which is scalable in terms of the network size, for joint optimization of the multi-path routing and bandwidth allocation (MRBA). Multi-path routing is to determine multiple paths from the source node to the sink node such that the traffic demand by the source node can be successfully transferred to the sink node as well as the total network cost can be minimized. Bandwidth allocation is to decide the amount of bandwidth assigned to the flow at every link along multi-paths from the source node to the sink node, which are chosen by the multi-path routing. In this paper, we propose a distributed and scalable flow control mechanism called DFC-BP (Distributed Flow Control with Backward Propagation), which simultaneously solves multi-path routing and bandwidth allocation. DFC-BP is an autonomous and decentralized hop-by-hop flow control mechanism which can minimize the total network cost utilizing the backward propagation from downstream nodes to upstream nodes. We also investigate the effectiveness of DFC-BP in terms of efficiency, transient performance, adaptability, and parameter sensitivity through simulation experiments. Our findings include that the total network cost realized by DFC-BP is comparable to that by a centralized heuristic algorithm, and that DFC-BP quickly adapts to the occurrence of multiple link failures.