Limiting the State Space Explosion as Taking Dynamic Issues into Account in Network Modelling and Analysis

Dependability [1] is a very important aspect of a computing or communication system. Modelling and analysis is a prominent means for system dependability evaluation [2]. The existing dependability modelling and analysis work for large systems like communication networks focus on the static issues (such as connectivity), mainly due to the increasing complexity and thus the limitations of insufficient computation capability. However, actually the communication networks are dynamically changing their characteristics, such as topology, routes, traffic loads, bandwidth, etc. Therefore, there are a lot of dynamic issues related to dependability at various levels (component, system, service, user, etc.) inside the networks, to name a few, changing network characteristics, differentiation of dependability (e.g. end user or service requirements, actor viewpoints), and dynamic multiparty interactions (e.g. interrelationship of multiple parties, dynamic interaction). In order to reflect better the truth and get closer to the dynamic and complex reality with respect to dependability in the networking context, those dynamic issues should be definitely taken into account in network modelling and analysis. This is our objective to extend the existing dependability modelling methodologies so as to deal with the new challenges in the arising dynamic environment.