Family ties in multi-generational families give rise to complex kinship graphs. These are stored and explored using dedicated techniques developed in the field of information technology (see, for example, the US patent https://patents.google.com/patent/US10025877B2).
But just as a family can be viewed as a graph, so (obviously) can a computer network. And finding the closest kinship connection between two persons looks similar to finding the best multi-hop path between two hosts on the same network. Thus it appeared to us that the IT techniques originating in genealogy can inform the design of routing algorithms. After all, a change of perspective is a great way to get new insight.
This line of thought has produced the topics for several diploma theses defended at our Division. Routing algorithms and protocols themselves are covered by our courses TINE, SIP, and TSST (among others).
Computer Networks and Services Division 