
8 Simulation Technologies in Networking and Communications
1.3 NETWORK SIMULATOR
1.3.1 TheoreTiCal analysis: ring
We consider the evolution of the queue at each node buffer as a Markov chain where the next state
depends on the present state of the buffer, while assuming the steady-state probability distribution
for states of all other buffers. This approach is similar to mean-eld theory in statistical physics.
Our goal is to obtain analytical expressions for the distribution of the number of messages in a buf-
fer at the steady state of the network and to determine the critical value of the load that results in
saturation. Let us call the g