Abstract—Communication networks play such a critical role in modern society that any failures in these networks are intolerable. In this study, we focus on the influence of network congestion and build a model to study the dynamics of cascading failures in communication networks. Investigation of the relationship between the initial allocation of efficiency among edges and the damage caused by cascading failures shows that a higher initial efficiency may lead to more severe consequence in case of cascading failures. We also investigate the influence of the size of the router’s buffer. Because the correct buffer size can alleviate network congestion to some extent, it is able to enhance the robustness of the network against cascading failures.

Index Terms—Cascading failures, communication networks, network congestion, network efficiency, buffer size.

The authors are with Collage of Communications Engineering, PLA University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China.

Cite:Lei Zhu, Xiaochen Liu, Lu Yu, Xinrong Wu, "Model of Cascading Failures for Communication Networks," International Journal of Computer and Communication Engineering vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 302-310, 2016.