On the Design of Link-State Routing Protocol for Connection-Oriented Networks

Link-state routing protocols are being increasingly used in modern communications networks. A salient feature of this class of routing protocols is that network connectivity and state information of all links are available to nodes for making routing decision. Two main components of a link-state routing protocol are an update mechanism and a routing algorithm. These components must be properly designed for efficient routing. Various alternatives are possible for each of these components leading to different scenarios for routing protocol. In this paper, we quantitatively examine the impact of these alternatives on network performance using call-by-call simulations. Our design objective is to reduce call blocking ratio without significantly increasing routing overhead. We also present a new signaling scheme that can be used in conjunction with link-state protocols. We show that, if properly designed, this scheme can enhance the network performance.