Small world effects in networks: an engineering interpretation

In this paper, an engineering interpretation of small world effects in networks is given. After briefly summarizing the main features of small world networks, an attempt is made to investigate the relevance that small world effects can have in communication networks. The aim is that of investigating the relationship between small world behaviour and some of the characteristic parameters associated to the overall performance of the network. It is shown that the performance of a communication network is indeed affected by the presence or absence of small world effects. Namely, the link between these effects and the average throughput and delivery time on the network is established and assessed through numerical simulations.