A Performance Simulation Study of the Ethernet and Token Bus Local Computer Networks

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed comparative performance simulation study for the Ethernet and Token Bus local computer networks. The simulation models are built using discrete-driven simulation. SIMSCRIPT 11.5 is used to develop the simulation models. The performance metrics considered in this paper are the throughput and average packet delay. Results obtained show that the throughput declines as the normalized propagation delay increases. However, the Token Bus channel utilization is higher than that of Ethernet especially when the Token Bus is operating in the exhaustive service case. The Token Bus exhaustive service has better maximum throughput - normalized propagation delay, a, characteristics especially for large values of a. It is found that delay - throughput comparisons between Ethernet and Token Bus topologies are sensitive to the network parameters. The results obtained show that Ethernet is inappropriate for high load conditions due to the increased number of collisions. Finally, it is found that the Token Bus provides relatively better performance measure for applications that are systematic in nature such as assembly line applications in factories.