Leveraging particle dynamics in force-fields for network packet routing.

Authors

Subir Biswas, Yida Yang, Amit Kumar Bhuyan, Hrishikesh Dutta, Samir Datta

Published in

PloS one. Volume 21. Issue 8. Pages e0357202. Epub Aug 27, 2026.

Abstract

Scalable and resource-efficient packet routing remains a fundamental challenge in modern communication networks, particularly in emerging Internet-of-Things and sensor network deployments where node capabilities are severely constrained. Existing routing paradigms, which includes source routing, hop-by-hop table-driven forwarding and other state-of-the-art frameworks, face inherent scalability limitations arising from either increasing packet header overhead or growing routing table complexity. This paper introduces Particle Dynamics-based Routing (PDR), a novel routing framework inspired by the controllable trajectories of particles in physical force fields. In PDR, network topology is abstracted as a discretized spatial field in which packets are routed along physics-driven trajectories determined by initial launch parameters and pre-assigned logical force distributions at nodes. This enables forwarding decisions at intermediate nodes without reliance on destination-specific routing tables or path-encoded headers. A gravitational-field realization of the framework is presented to demonstrate how routing complexity can be shifted from core network nodes to edge-based pre-launch computation processes. Through theoretical formulation and simulation-based evaluation, the study shows that PDR can maintain constant packet header size independent of network scale, while supporting trajectory-based routing with reduced forwarding overhead at intermediate nodes. The framework further enables natural privacy semantics by limiting exposure of destination information during packet traversal. These characteristics position PDR as a scalable routing alternative for large-scale and resource-constrained network environments. Beyond its immediate applicability, the proposed paradigm establishes a new trajectory-centric perspective on routing design, which opens opportunities for future extensions involving multi-field routing strategies, hierarchical trajectory composition, and routing in higher-dimensional network abstractions.

PMID:
42658888
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 28 Aug 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.