In this paper we present AntNet, a novel adaptive approach to routing tables learning in packet-switched communications networks. AntNet is inspired by the stigmergy model of communication observed in ant colonies. We present compelling evidence that AntNet, when measuring performance by standard measures such as network throughput and average packet delay, outperforms the current Internet rout...

We introduce and study two new functional equations, which contain a lot of known functional equations as special cases, arising in dynamic programming of multistage decision processes. By applying a new fixed point theorem, we obtain the existence, uniqueness, iterative approximation, and error estimate of solutions for these functional equations. Under certain conditions, we also study proper...