Tools of computational intelligence as applied to bandwidth allocation in ATM networks

Abstract

This paper presents the application of soft computing-based techniques to the bandwidth allocation (BA) problem in ATM networks. Efficient bandwidth allocation technique implies effective resources utilization. The fluid flow model has been known to be among the most accurate conventional methods to estimate the bandwidth of a set of connections. However, and due to the computational complexity, such methods have been proven to be inefficient in coping with varying and conflicting bandwidth requirements in ATM networks. To overcome this difficulty, many approximation-based solutions were introduced. Although such solutions are not simple, they nevertheless suffer from possible inaccuracy in estimating the required bandwidth. Soft computing-based bandwidth controllers, such as neural networks and neurofuzzy based controllers, have the capability to solve indeterminate non-linear input-output relations by learning from examples. Applying these techniques to the bandwidth allocation problem in ATM network yields a flexible control mechanism that offers a fundamental trade-off for the accuracy-simplicity dilemma.