计算机网络研究前沿——Backpressure routing

In queueing theory, a discipline within the mathematical theory of probability, the backpressure routing algorithm is a centralised method for directing traffic around a queueing network that achieves maximum network throughput, which is established using concepts of Lyapunov drift. 

Backpressure routing considers the situation where each job can visit multiple service nodes in the network, it is an extension of max-weight scheduling where rather than each job visits only a single service node.

Backpressure routing is an algorithm for dynamically routing traffic over a multi-hop network by using congestion gradients. The algorithm can be applied to wireless communication networks, including sensor networks, mobile ad hoc networks (MANETS), and heterogeneous networks with wireless and wireline components. 

Backpressure principles can also be applied to other areas, such as to the study of product assembly systems and processing networks. This article focuses on communication networks, where packets from multiple data streams arrive and must be delivered to appropriate destinations. 

The backpressure algorithm operates in slotted time. Every time slot it seeks to route data in directions that maximize the differential backlog between neighboring nodes. This is similar to how water flows through a network of pipes via pressure gradients.

 However, the backpressure algorithm can be applied to multi-commodity networks (where different packets may have different destinations), and to networks where transmission rates can be selected from a set of (possibly time-varying) options.

Attractive features of the backpressure algorithm are: 

(i) it leads to maximum network throughput, 

(ii) it is provably robust to time-varying network conditions, 

(iii) it can be implemented without knowing traffic arrival rates or channel state probabilities. 

However, the algorithm may introduce large delays, and may be difficult to implement exactly in networks with interference. Modifications of backpressure that reduce delay and simplify implementation are described below under Improving Delay and Distributed Backpressure.

Backpressure routing has mainly been studied in a theoretical context. In practice, ad hoc wireless networks have typically implemented alternative routing methods based on shortest path computations or network flooding, such as Ad Hoc on-Demand Distance Vector Routing (AODV), Geographic Routing, and Extremely Opportunistic Routing (ExOR). However, the mathematical optimality properties of backpressure have motivated recent experimental demonstrations of its use on wireless testbeds at the University of Southern California and at North Carolina State University .