A Thermodynamic Theory of Broadband Networks with Application to Dynamic Routing

We propose a thermodynamic theory for broadband networks relating quantities such as grade of service (GoS), bandwidth assignment, buffer assignment, and bandwidth demand. We propose a scalability postulate for these four quantities. Useful thermodynamic type relationships are then derived. The scalability postulate and thermodynamic type relations are then reexamined via statistical methods using the moment generating function. Large deviations theory is applied, and in the process, notions such as effective bandwidth are defined. We apply this theory to networks which allow dynamic routing of different call types. The probability of rare events expressed in conjunctive forms is characterized using large deviations theory. Based on this theory, a new dynamic routing method called effective bandwidth network routing (EBNR) is proposed. >