Universal Continuous Routing Strategies

Abstract.

We analyze universal routing protocols, that is, protocols that can be used for any communication pattern in any network, under a stochastic model of continuous message generation. In particular, we present two universal protocols, a store-and-forward and a wormhole routing protocol, and characterize their performance by the following three parameters: the maximum message generation rate for which the protocol is stable, the expected delay of a message from generation to service, and the time the protocol needs to recover from worst-case scenarios. Both protocols yield significant performance improvements over all previously known continuous routing protocols. In addition, we present adaptations of our protocols to continuous routing in node-symmetric networks, butterflies, and meshes.