Network survivability performance evaluation: A quantitative approach with applications in wireless Ad-hoc Networks

Network survivability reflects the ability of a network to continue to function during and after failures. Our purpose in this paper is to propose a quantitative approach to evaluate network survivability. We perceive the network survivability as a composite measure consisting of both network failure duration and failure impact on the network. A wireless ad-hoc networks is analyzed as an example, and the excess packet loss due to failures (ELF) is taken as the survivability performance measure. To obtain ELF, we adopt a two phase approach consisting of the steady-state availability analysis and system transient performance analysis. Assuming Markovian property for the system, this measure is obtained by solving a set of Markov models. By utilizing other analysis paradigms, our approach in this paper may also be applied to study the survivability performance of more complex systems.