Phase Transitions in Packet Traffic on Regular Networks: a comparison of source types and topologies

We extend the packet traffic network models developed in recent years for rectangular grids to other regular networks, and to fragmented networks. The packet transfer mechanism is open-loop as before. The nodes of the network are either hosts or routers. Both can receive and transmit packets towards their destination;hosts can also create and receive packets. Long range dependent traffic with varying Hurst parameter is introduced at the host nodes of these networks, and comparative studies of the onset of congestion are carried out. Results show statistical robustness when the rectangular grid is adapted to form other regular networks. Qualitative behavior is the same, and simple mean field models accurately predict critical points as in the rectangular case. R/S- statistics show the presence of long range dependence even when sources are short range dependent. Results indicate that this long range dependence is closely linked to the queueing mechanism.