Flow assignment and packet scheduling for multipath networks

Abstract

We propose a framework to study how to route packets efficiently in multipath communication networks. Two traffic congestion control techniques, namely, flow assignment and packet scheduling, have been investigated. The flow assignment mechanism defines an optimal splitting of data traffic on multiple disjoint paths. The resequencing delay and the usage of the resequencing buffer can be reduced significantly by properly scheduling the sending order of all packets, say, according to their expected arrival times at the destination. We consider a multiple-node M/M/1 tandem network with a delay line as the path model. When end-to-end path delays are all Gaussian distributed, our analytical results show that the techniques are very effective in reducing the average end-to-end path delay, the average packet resequencing delay, and the average resequencing buffer occupancy for various path configurations. These promising results can form a basis for designing future adaptive multipath protocols.