A station in a network forwards each incoming packet by placing it on its…

Concept

Adaptive routing can use current local congestion information instead of relying only on a fixed end-to-end path. A shortest-output-queue rule sends an arriving packet through the output port with the smallest queue, reducing its local waiting time.

Application

The station in the question examines its output queues and immediately assigns the incoming packet to the shortest one. This get-the-packet-away-quickly policy is the defining local rule of hot potato routing.

Contrast

• Flooding sends copies of a packet over multiple outgoing links, usually with controls such as hop counts to limit duplication.

• Static routing follows preconfigured routes and does not automatically change its next hop in response to current queue lengths.

• Delta routing divides route decisions between centralized guidance and local choice by using a cost threshold called delta.

Cross-check

The clue is the use of the shortest output queue. The rule depends on instantaneous local queue occupancy rather than packet replication, a fixed route, or a delta cost threshold.

Therefore, the routing algorithm is hot potato routing.