Double Loop Network Architectures--A Performance Study

Single loop networks tend to become unreliable and suffer from poor performance when the number of nodes in the network becomes large. One approach to increasing reliability and improving performance is to use a double loop. In this paper, the performance (using analytical and simulation models) of a class of highly reliable double loop network architectures is presented. The richer topology of double loop networks allows more sophisticated routing algorithms to be used. Several routing algorithms are studied, including: fixed, adaptive to failure, and fully adaptive to failure and traffic load conditions.