Structuring Hierarchical Multi-Star Small-World Networks for Real-World Applications

A Small-World network is one of complex networks which could be used for analysis of human networks in SNS (social networking service) and an efficient design of logistics, etc. We have developed a new Small-World network (called n-Star network) inspired by Ant-Colony Optimization (ACO), and applied it to reorganizing a next generation airline network. In this study, the network is extended to several hierarchical architectures that will be more useful for real-world applications. Such architectures include six kinds of hierarchical networks. We analyze the features of the hierarchical networks using several network parameters. As one of real-world applications, we propose a more realistic and efficient hierarchical global airline network using one of the hierarchical n-Star networks