New algorithm for dynamic packages routing

22nd August 2008

Researchers from the University of California at San Diego, USA, developed a new routing algorithm, which promises to significantly improve the effectiveness of transferring packages in data transmission networks.
The idea of an algorithm called XL (stands for â€œapproXimate Link stateâ€ is to suppress procedures of updating routing tables. It is these updates that forced connected networks to constantly recalculate routes to transmit packages in a single space of the Internet. The traditional approach to dynamic routing lays in filling the net with information on changing routes.
The head of developing the protocol XL became a professor of the University of San Diego, Stefan Savage, who introduced the new protocol at the ACM SIGCOMM conference this week. XL algorithm allows spreading in the net not all new topology of individual networks, but only its changed part without lavishing the channels with excessive information. In contrast to the generally accepted algorithms of calculating routes based on information on the status of compounds and path vector, the algorithm XLâ€™s main factor is the â€œapproximate status of connectionsâ€, which does not require the collection of all available data on the topology of available networks.
The developers of the algorithm XL are confident that their algorithm is only the first step in significant improvement of the routing speed.