Abstract

A minimal model of computer network traffic has been def-ined in simple as well as complex networks inorder to study the trade-off between topological based and traffic based routing strategies. The traffic exhibits a phase transition from a low to high congestion state measured in terms of average travel time of packets as a function of packet creation rate in network. This analysis results in a collective behaviour of traffic which presents second-order as well as first- order phases transition between a free-flow phase and a congested phase. Global performance,enlarging the free-flow region is improved by traffic control in heterogeneous networks. Traffic control also introduces non-linear effects, may trigger the appearance ofa congested phase in a discontinuous manner. This paper presents an analytical study of the traffic behaviour in a NOC architecture.