Abstract

Modern communication networks require routing protocols that can adapt to dynamic traffic conditions while accounting for topology-based structural risk. Conventional open shortest path first (OSPF) relies on static or linear link cost metrics, which are often inadequate for capturing the nonlinear behavior of network dynamics and structural risk. This paper proposes sigmoid-enhanced OSPF (SE-OSPF), which integrates topology-based structural risk into the OSPF routing metric through a nonlinear sigmoid function. The proposed framework employs two configurable sigmoid parameters, the midpoint (x0) and the steepness (k), to provide smooth cost transitions and adaptive routing decisions under varying network conditions. Simulation results on a Barabási–Albert scale-free topology demonstrate that SE-OSPF reduces the average end-to-end delay by 19.7% and packet jitter by 8.6% compared with Standard OSPF. In addition, SE-OSPF increases the average number of successfully delivered packets by up to 16.6% compared with Linear-OSPF while reducing maximum link utilization (MLU), indicating more balanced traffic distribution, improved load balancing, and reduced congestion. These results demonstrate that the proposed sigmoid-based routing metric effectively balances routing efficiency, packet delivery reliability, and network load distribution, establishing SE-OSPF as an effective framework for topology-based structural risk-aware adaptive routing in modern communication networks.

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