Reliability of Single, Double and N2R Ring Network Structures

This paper studies the properties of single, double and N2R ring network structures during link errors. The structure of the network infrastructure must be redesigned in order to fulfil the requirements of services using the Internet in the future; hence, N2R structures have been suggested. N2R structures are found to be superior regarding network properties compared to the other more traditionally ring structures but the deployment of this type of structure is more complicated. Therefore, this paper suggests a deployment scheme, denoted N2R tube deployment, which is a compromise between the easy deployable dobule ring structure, and the better properties of the N2R structure. The properties of single ring, double ring and N2R structures have never been compared during errors in previous research. Nevertheless, this is an important part of selecting the topology of the network infrastructure for the future. This paper compares single, double, N2R and N2R tube structures when one and two errors are introduced. The results show that even when errors are introduced in the network structures, the N2R structure remain superior. Furthermore, this is also valid with a smaller margin for the N2R tube structures. Keywords— Ring network structures, network planning, network reliability, N2R structures and network infrastructure.