A simple distributed loop-free routing strategy for computer communication networks

The loops resulting from either component failures or load changes in a computer communication network degrade the performance and the adaptability of conventional distributed adaptive routing strategies, such as ARPANET´s previous routing strategy (APRS). The authors develop distributed loop-free routing strategy by adding only one additional piece of information-the total number of minimum-delay paths-to the commonly used routing messages and tables. The proposed routing strategy requires only easily obtainable information, yet removes loops completely. It is far more efficient in both time and space than its conventional counterparts, especially for sparse computer networks. The authors prove the correctness of the proposed strategy, and give several illustrative examples. The performance of this strategy is shown to be better than, or at least as good as, that of APRS and any multiorder routing strategies, in which the order of a routing strategy is determined by the amount of routing information carried in each routing message