Space Priority Buffer Management for ATM Networks

Abstract

Broadband Integrated Services Digital Networks (BISDN) will support a wide variety of services such as voice, data, and video applications utilizing a limited set of connection types and user network interfaces. Standards committees have decided on Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) as the target transport technique for BISDN. ATM is a connection oriented transport technique in which all information is conveyed using a fixed size packet (called a “cell”) for switching and transmission purposes so as to dynamically share the network resources between connections. Since BISDN’s will support various classes of multimedia traffic with different bit rates and quality of service requirements, traffic control and resource management are crucial in order to guarantee a grade of service. Several mechanisms will exist in a BISDN to control traffic, such as call admission control, input rate regulation and routing. Here we focus on a particular type of congestion control dealing with packet discarding at ATM buffers in order to guarantee a specified cell loss rate.