Braess Paradox in Delay-Tolerant Networks: How Adding Relay Satellites Can Decrease Delivery
Councilman, J.
Abstract
v5.0 (March 2026): Revised terminology and epistemic framing throughout. Definitional identities relabeled as Propositions. Classification language updated. Mechanism descriptions qualified as proposed interpretations. License: CC-BY-4.0 (revised from the earlier AGPL-3.0-or-later statement). Scientific conclusions unchanged. v4.0 (March 2026): Revised for consistency with classification theorem v7.0. Demoted empirical results from Theorem to Observation/Conjecture. Corrected gamma normalization convention. Updated DOI cross-references to concept DOIs. Added self-DOI to author block. Qualitative conclusions unchanged. Demonstration of the Braess paradox in delay-tolerant networks with orbital mechanics. Adding relay satellites to a constellation can decrease the delivery ratio by creating topological dead-ends that trap greedy routers. The paradox lives entirely in Φ, the policy distortion factor of the three-factor sparse law DR = S_T · exp(E[H]λ) · Φ. The oracle-chain exponent is Braess-invariant. Moon n=12 marks the Braess onset (Φ = 0.994), and n=6 is the worst-performing constellation size across all eight tested targets in the anti-Braess (diversity-limited) regime. A 17,760-configuration cloud sweep reveals a three-regime Braess phase surface in (peff, alt/R) space: giant-planet anti-Braess (coverage-limited), small-body Braess (dead-end-limited), and small-body anti-Braess at low link quality (connectivity-limited).