Loop Free Multipath Routing Algorithm

Single path routing that is currently used in the internet routers,is easy to implement as it simplifies the routing tables and packet flow paths. However it is not optimal and has shortcomings in utilizing the network resources optimally, load balancing & fast recovery in case of faults (fault tolerance). The given algorithm resolves all these problems by using all possible multiple paths for transfer of information, while retaining loop-free property. We have proposed a new dynamic loop-free multipath routing algorithm which improves network throughput and network resource utilization, reduces average transmission delay, and is not affected by faults in the links and router nodes. The main idea of this algorithm is to maintain multiple possible next hops for a destination along with weights. At every node, the traffic to a destination is split among multiple next hops in proportion to the estimated weights. The number of multiple next hops also changes depending on the traffic conditions, but it is never less than one.