A general performance bound applied to examples of highly connected loss networks

The authors describe the behaviour of optimal dynamic routing strategies in a collection of example networks. The primary method of investigation used within the paper is the general bound on loss performance developed by Kelly (1992). This bound may be derived for general network architectures and they consider the examples of symmetric networks, networks with a single node or a cluster of nodes which are either underloaded or overloaded. The bounds, associated optimal flows and implied costs provide an effective tool to illustrate the rich variety of phenomena occurring in such networks as offered loads vary. They provide a review of the mathematical background and formulation of the network routing and performance bounds. The application of these methods to the collection of network examples is then considered. They study in some considerable detail the changes in flow patterns between direct and alternative routes which occur as offered loads vary