Epidemic Driven by Border Routing in Complex Networks of Networks

Traffic-driven epidemic spreading on single or isolated complex networks has been extensively studied over the past decade. However, traffic-driven epidemic spreading in a network of networks has not received sufficient attention. Understanding the dynamics of traffic flow in such a network of networks is crucial for optimizing performance and minimizing congestion. Inspired by the variety of studies on routing algorithms in isolated networks, this paper shifts attention to the impact of routing schemes on traffic dynamics within a network of networks, and further demonstrates that the structure of a network of networks can significantly influence the spreading of epidemics driven by traffic dynamics. Simulation results show that our proposed method Border Administrative Authority (BAA) yields superior outcomes without extra cost and load of traffic to overcome the congestion problem in traffic dynamics. Moreover, we find that coupling through peripheral nodes delays epidemic outbreaks more effectively than hub-to-hub coupling between two networks.