MRED: a new approach to random early detection

Abstract

In order to reduce the increasing packet loss rates caused by an exponential increase in network traffic, the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) is considering the deployment of active queue management techniques such as RED (random early detection). While active queue management in routers and gateways can potentially reduce packet loss rates in the Internet, this paper has demonstrated the inherent weakness of current techniques and shows that they are ineffective in preventing high loss rates. The inherent problem with these queue management algorithms is that they all use queue lengths as the indicator of the severity of congestion. In order to solve this problem, a new active queue management algorithm called MRED is proposed. MRED computes the packet drop probability based on our heuristic method rather than the simple method used in RED. Using simulation, MRED is shown to perform better than existing queue management schemes.