An analytical technique for evaluating packet routing policies in metropolitan area networks

An analytical technique for evaluating packet routing strategies in metropolitan (or wide) area networks is presented. This technique determines the upper bound of the mean packet transfer time in a class of regular mesh networks called Manhattan street networks. The proposed technique is based on determining the internode distance distribution and the topology z-transform for an ideal (i.e. where the links are of infinite capacity or the nodes are equipped with infinite buffer space) version of the network under consideration for a specific traffic distribution pattern. Deviations from the ideal conditions are taken into account by incorporating a tuning parameter and a penalty indicator in the performance equations. The value of the tuning parameter is zero for the ideal network. The penalty indicator depends on the network´s topology and the type (i.e. half-duplex or full-duplex) of communication links used in the network