Reference no: EM131466451

Question: Virtual Circuit Routing by Flooding. In some networks where it may be hard to keep track of the topology as it changes (e.g., packet radio networks), it is possible to use flooding to set up virtual circuits. The main idea is that a node m, which wants to set up a virtual circuit to node n, should flood an "exploratory" packet through the network. A node that rebroadcasts this packet stamps its ID number on it so that when the destination node n receives an exploratory packet, it knows the route along which it came.

The destination node can then choose one of the potentially many routes carried by the copies of the exploratory packet received and proceed to set up the virtual circuit. Describe one or more flooding protocols that will make this process workable. Address the issues of indefinite or excessive message circulation in the network, appropriate numbering of exploratory packets, unpredictable link failures and delays, potential confusion between the two end nodes of virtual circuits, and so on.