Abstract
The question of routing loop formation is examined for a class of routing schemes based on “agents” or “ants”. First the notion of loop existence is discussed for the general case of routing tables with multiple, weighted entries. A simple criterion is then found which ensures loop-free routing. This criterion accounts for previous results with agent-based routing. It is however not in general met by ant-based (stochastic) routing schemes. In this case I find probabilistic arguments which conclude that, for such schemes, loops will be unlikely to form, and, if formed, unlikely to persist.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Hayzelden, A.L.G., and Bigham, J. (eds.). Software Agents for Future Communications Systems. Springer, Berlin, 1999.
Bonabeau, E., Dorigo, M., and Theraulaz, G. Swarm Intelligence: From Natural to Artificial Systems. Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 1999.
Appleby, S., and Steward, S. Mobile software agents for control in telecommunications networks. BT Technology Journal, 12 (April 1994), 104–113. Reprinted as Chapter 11 of Ref. [1].
Schoonderwoerd, R., Holland, O., Bruten, J. Ant-like agents for load balancing in telecommunications networks. Proceedings, 1 st Intl. Conf. Autonomous Agents (1997).
Schoonderwoerd, R., Holland, O., Bruten, J., and Rothkrantz, L. Ant-based load balancing in telecommunications networks. Adapt. Beh. 5 (1997), 169–207.
Schoonderwoerd, R., and Holland, O. Minimal agents for communications network routing: the social insect paradigm. Chapter 13 of Ref. [1].
Subramanian, D., Druschel, P., and Chen, J. Ants and reinforcement learning: a case study in routing in dynamic networks. Proc. IJCAI-97 (1997), 832–838.
Milojcic, M. (ed.). Mobile agent applications. IEEE Concurrency (July–Sept 1999), 80–90.
Di Caro, G., and Dorigo, M. Two ant colony algorithms for best-effort routing in datagram networks. Proceedings of 10 th IASTED Intl. Conf. on Parallel and Distributed Computing and Systems (PDCS’98), Anaheim: IASTED/ACTA Press (1998), 541–546.
Heusse, M., Snyers, D., Guérin, S., and Kuntz, P. Adaptive agent-driven routing and load balancing in communication networks. Adv. Complex Systems 1 (1998), 237–254.
Di Caro, G., and Dorigo, M. AntNet: distributed stigmergetic control for communications networks. J. Artif. Intell. Res. 9 (1998), 317–365.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Canright, G. (2002). Ants and Loops. In: Dorigo, M., Di Caro, G., Sampels, M. (eds) Ant Algorithms. ANTS 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2463. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45724-0_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45724-0_21
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-44146-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45724-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive