Measuring the Utility/Path Diversity Tradeoff in Multipath Protocols

Published

October 20, 2009

Author(s)

Fern Y. Hunt, Vladimir V. Marbukh

Abstract

We derive a model of congestion control where the trade-off between utility and path diversity can be investigated. In a network where there can be multiple routes between locations, each source is assigned a route according to a random allocation scheme where the degree of randomness and therefore path diversity is controlled by hs, the entropy of the route distribution. Model equations are derived from a network utility maximization problem and the results of the analysis of two networks with a single source destination are presented. We conclude for each such network there is a critical value of hs for which stable equilibrium solutions of the model equations exist and using the approach of Low and Lapsley, it can be shown that they are also solutions of the original optimization problem. Treating hs as a parameter, the trade-off is discussed in terms of the behavior of the time averaged utility as a function of hs.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Performance Evaluation Methodologies

Conference Dates

October 20-22, 2009

Conference Location

Pisa,

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

discrete dynamical systems, multipath routing, TCI/IP protocols

Citation

Hunt, F. and Marbukh, V. (2009), Measuring the Utility/Path Diversity Tradeoff in Multipath Protocols, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Performance Evaluation Methodologies, Pisa, (Accessed April 26, 2026)

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