Abstract
This paper models the effects of bandwidth on the traffic capacity of scale-free networks. We investigate the decrease of the system traffic capacity and the variation of the optimal local routing coefficient αc, induced by the restriction of bandwidth. For low bandwidth, the same optimal value of αc emerges for two different cases of node capacity, namely C = constant and Ci = ki, where ki denotes the degree of the i-th node. By investigating the number of packets at each node in the free-flow state, we provide analytical explanations for the optimal value of αc. Average packet travelling time, distribution of packet travelling time, and average visits per node divided by the node connectivity are also studied.