SNEM: a new approach to evaluate terminal pair reliability of communication networks

Abstract

Purpose

This paper proposes a new approach source node exclusion method (SNEM) to evaluate terminal pair reliability of complex communication networks.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed approach breaks a non‐series‐parallel network to obtain its sub‐networks by excluding the source node from rest of the network. The reliabilities of these sub‐networks are thereafter computed by first applying the series‐parallel‐reductions to it and if any sub‐network results into another non‐series‐parallel network then it is solved by the recursive application of SNEM.

Findings

The proposed method has been applied on a variety of network and found to be quite simple, robust, and fast for terminal pair reliability evaluation of large and complex networks.

Practical implications

The proposed approach is quite simple in application and applicable to any general networks, i.e. directed and undirected. The method does not require any prior information such as path (or cut) sets of the network and their pre‐processing thereafter or perform complex tests on networks to match a predefined criterion.

Originality/value

The proposed approach provides an easy to develop and easy to use tool to determine terminal pair reliability of a communication network. The approach is particularly useful for communication network designer and analysts.

Citation

Goyal, N.K., Babu Misra, R. and Chaturvedi, S.K. (2005), "SNEM: a new approach to evaluate terminal pair reliability of communication networks", Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 239-253. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552510510616450