Self avoiding paths routing algorithm in scale-free networks.

In this paper, we present a new routing algorithm called "the self avoiding paths routing algorithm." Its application to traffic flow in scale-free networks shows a great improvement over the so called "efficient routing" protocol while at the same time maintaining a relatively low average packet travel time. It has the advantage of minimizing path overlapping throughout the network in a self consistent manner with a relatively small number of iterations by maintaining an equilibrated path distribution especially among the hubs. This results in a significant shifting of the critical packet generation rate over which traffic congestion occurs, thus permitting the network to sustain more information packets in the free flow state. The performance of the algorithm is discussed both on a Barabasi-Albert network and real autonomous system network data. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4790864]