Fuzzy distance approach to routing algorithms for optimal web path estimation

Presents a fuzzy extension of several classical routing algorithms and uses them for finding the optimal path set of links to a target Web site in a Web-link network. The retrieval rate, λ, which is the time taken to retrieve the target pages, is considered as the decisive factor. This factor is unpredictable while surfing due to a variety of reasons which include availability of channel, server capability and network bandwidth, etc., and is therefore represented linguistically. The expected retrieval rate ε_R is extremely high and is also expressed as a fuzzy set. Users´ opinions about each link with regard to λ are collected and the fuzzy opinion matrix is formulated. From the overall fuzzy opinion on each link in a path, a fuzzy Hurwicz opinion set is derived using an optimism-pessimism index, α. For each link, the fuzzy distance between the fuzzy Hurwicz opinion set and the expected retrieval rate fuzzy set is estimated. The classical Floyd-Warshall, Dijkstra and Bellman-Ford routing algorithms are extended using fuzzy distance measures in exploring optimal Web surfing. An optimal surfing path is estimated in a Web link network using the above fuzzy distance based routing algorithms