A block oriented paradigm for modeling communications networks

A block oriented data flow paradigm that proves a more general framework for modeling a broad range of communications networks and networking issues is described. It is shown how this paradigm exploits the synergies between data flow block digrams and data structures to create a complete, flexible modeling environment. The paradigm is used to construct models from the Petri net, finite state machine, and extended queuing network perspectives. Needed extensions to the modeling environment are identified. >