Adaptive Strategies for Routing in Dynamic Networks

In modern communication systems, especially those with mobile radio components, the distribution of traffic loads and network topologies may vary from nearly static to very dynamic. The dynamic behaviour may vary both in space (i.e. affect only regions of a network) and in time. Commonly known routing algorithms tend to be well suited for specific networking environments. For example, algorithms based on the shortest path principle tend to work well with quasi-static networks, and random search or flood based algorithms are better suited to networks with dynamically changing topologies. As a result, it is very difficult to select a single routing algorithm that will be most appropriate for a given network, if the network is subject to varying degrees of dynamic behaviour. Usually, what works well for some regions of a network, will be inefficient for other regions. Similarly, the routing efficiency will vary in time. An intuitive solution to this problem, namely switching between a num..