LOCAL AREA NETWORK EVALUATION

RECENTLY, A NEW TECHNIQUE FOR MODELLING THE FLOW OF DATA THROUGH AN INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM HAS BEEN DEVELOPED. IT HAS RECEIVED LIMITED TESTING ON COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND LOCAL AREA NETWORKS. THIS TESTING HAS SHOWN THAT THE TECHNIQUE, BASED ON ANALYZING THE INFORMATION FLOW AS A FLUID FLOW, IS MORE WIDELY APPLICABLE THAN VARIOUS APPROXIMATION METHODS BASED ON QUEUING THEORY IDEAS. AT THE SAME TIME, IT IS EASIER TO APPLY AND LESS COSTLY TO EXERCISE THAN DISCRETE EVENT SIMULATION METHODS. FOR THESE REASONS, IT SHOULD BE AN IDEAL METHOD FOR ANALYZING AND EVALUATING LOCAL AREA NETWORKS (LAN'S) THAT ARE PROPOSED FOR USE IN SHIPBOARD TACTICAL SYSTEMS. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT ARE TWOFOLD; FIRST TO SHOW HOW THIS NEW METHOD CAN BE USED TO ASSESS LAN'S THAT WILL BE PROPOSED FOR NAVY APPLICATIONS, AND SECOND, TO STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF DESIGNING A USER INTERFACE THAT WILL ALLOW A SYSTEMS ANALYST TO APPLY THE TOOL WITHOUT HAVING TO UNDERSTAND ALL THE DETAILS OF HOW IT WORKS.