Performance comparison of design alternatives for source policing devices in ATM systems

Abstract

In ATM networks the usage parameter control function must be defined very carefully to avoid network congestion due to users violating their negotiated traffic contract intentionally or unintentionally. This control function operates on the basis of connection traffic descriptors and is located at the network access. Connection traffic descriptors, which describe the characteristics of a source, are parameters such as the peak cell rate and the cell delay variation tolerance as well as the sustainable cell rate and the burst tolerance. To monitor these cell rates, the generic cell rate algorithm was proposed. Since a user can specify the peak and the sustainable cell rate together, different structural monitoring schemes exist for the enforcement of these rates. The authors present exact analyses of four monitoring schemes. Numerical results show that the structure of the scheme has only a minor influence on the resulting cell rejection probability. However, some general statements about the performance and the practical applicability of the schemes are given.