On the Topological Design of Distributed Computer Networks

The problem of data transmission in a network environment involves the design of a communication subnetwork. Recently, significant progress has been made in this technology, and in this article we survey the modeling, analysis, and design of such computercommunication networks. Most of the design methodology presented has been developed with the packet-switched Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) in mind, although the principles extend to more general networks. We state the general design problem, decompose it into simpler subproblems, discuss the solutions to these subproblems, and then suggest a heuristic topological design procedure as a solution to the original problem.