Propagating buffer: a new approach to deadlock freedom in store-and-forward networks

The authors address the problem of guaranteeing deadlock-freedom in store-and-forward networks which are vulnerable to deadlocks due to limited buffer space at the nodes. Approaches based on structured buffer pools and acyclic buffer graphs suffer from restrictions on the use of the available buffers and routing of packets. The authors propose and discuss a new approach that has little restrictions on buffer usage and routing. Because of its simplicity, this approach can be easily implemented in real networks