Self-organized network design by link survivals and shortcuts

One of the challenges for future infrastructures is how to design a network with high efficiency and strong connectivity at low cost. We propose self-organized geographical networks beyond the vulnerable scale-free structure found in many real systems. The networks with spatially concentrated nodes emerge through link survival and path reinforcement on routing flows in a wireless environment with a constant transmission range of a node. In particular, we show that adding some shortcuts induces both the small-world effect and a significant improvement of the robustness to the same level as in the optimal bimodal networks. Such a simple universal mechanism will open prospective ways for several applications in wide-area ad hoc networks, smart grids, and urban planning.