IEEE 802.17 resilient packet ring tutorial

IEEE Working Group 802.17 is standardizing a new ring topology network architecture, called the resilient packet ring, to be used mainly in metropolitan and wide area networks. This article presents a technology background, gives an overview, and explains some of the design choices behind RPR. Some major architectural features are illustrated and compared by showing performance evaluation results using the RPR simulator developed at Simula Research Laboratory using the OPNET modeler simulation environment.