A self-tuning controller for queuing delay regulation in TCP/AQM networks

Telecommunication Systems - AQM router aims primarily to control the network congestion through marking/dropping packets which are used as congestion feedback in traffic sources to balance their...     

主动队列管理中的智能分组丢弃新机制

主动队列管理通过网络中间节点有控制的分组丢弃实现了较低的排队延时和较高的有效吞吐量,是TCP端到端拥塞控制近来研究的一个技术热点.已有的大多数算法在判定分组丢弃时大都沿袭了RED的概率丢弃机制,具有一定计算复杂度的随机数生成过程不利于路由器性能的优化.在本文中,我们首先定义了拥塞指数这一新的测度变量来量化描述网络的拥塞状态.接着,利用模糊逻辑设计了一种新的智能分组丢弃机制,离线的合成推理使得分组丢弃的判定仅需要简单的查表操作和比较运算即可完成,为优化路由器的性能提供了便利.数字仿真的结果表明:智能分组丢弃机制的性能优于经典的RED算法,控制队列的能力强,鲁棒性好,稳定工作域大,能很好地抵抗突发性和非弹性业务的干扰,适合工作在瞬息万变的动态网络环境中.     

Modeling and Analysis of Active Queue Management Schemes under Bursty Traffic

Traffic congestion arising from the shared nature of uplink channels in wireless networks can cause serious problems for the provision of QoS to various services. One approach to overcome these problems is to implement some effective congestion control mechanisms at the downlink buffer at the mobile network link layer or at gateways on the behalf of wireless network access points. Active queue management (AQM) is an effective mechanism to support end-to-end traffic congestion control in modern high-speed networks. Initially developed for Internet routers, AQM is now being also considered as an effective congestion control mechanism to enhance TCP performance over 3G links. This paper proposes an analytical performance model for AQM using various dropping functions. The selection of different dropping functions and threshold values required for this scheme plays a critical role on its effectiveness. The model uses a well-known Markov-modulated Poisson process (MMPP) to capture traffic burstiness and correlations. The validity of the model has been demonstrated through simulation experiments. Extensive analytical results have indicated that exponential dropping function is a good choice for AQM to support efficient congestion control.     

Using interval phase margin assignment to self-tune a PI AQM controller for TCP traffic

We propose a self-tuning PI (Proportional-Integral) controller for an AQM (Active Queue Management) router supporting TCP traffic in the Internet. Classical control theory is applied in the controller design to meet the phase margin specification in the frequency domain. By assigning a proper interval of the phase margin, we can achieve good AQM performance by making the control system adapt to dramatic load changes. Our self-tuning PI controller self-tunes only when there is a great change in the network environment that would cause the phase margin of the AQM control system to drift outside the specified interval. Based on the knowledge of the queue size, our PI controller can regulate the TCP source window size by adjusting the packet drop probability, thus clamping the steady queue size around a desirable target buffer occupancy. We demonstrate by OPNET^® simulations that with our self-tuning PI controller applied, the network exhibits a good transient behavior. A simple PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) controller design method is also provided.     

A genetic algorithm for the design of a fuzzy controller for active queue management

Active queue management (AQM) policies are those policies of router queue management that allow for the detection of network congestion, the notification of such occurrences to the hosts on the network borders, and the adoption of a suitable control policy. This paper proposes the adoption of a fuzzy proportional integral (FPI) controller as an active queue manager for Internet routers. The analytical design of the proposed FPI controller is carried out in analogy with a proportional integral (PI) controller, which recently has been proposed for AQM. A genetic algorithm is proposed for tuning of the FPI controller parameters with respect to optimal disturbance rejection. In the paper the FPI controller design methodology is described and the results of the comparison with random early detection (RED), tail drop, and PI controller are presented.     

主动队列管理算法的分类器实现

作为端到端拥塞控制的增强机制,主动队列管理(AQM)通过在网络中间节点有目的地丢弃分组来维持较小的队列长度和较高的链路利用率.已有的大多数主动队列管理算法沿用了随机早期探测(RED)算法首创的概率丢弃机制.本质上,判决是否丢弃分组的过程是一个依赖于网络拥塞状态的决策过程,因此,概率决策不应该是唯一的方法.在本文的研究中,我们首先归纳了理想AQM算法所应具备的品质,然后应用模式识别中分类器的设计思想提出了一种新颖简洁的主动队列管理策略实现框架,并基于Fisher线性判别方法为AQM设计了一个两维两类分类器(TCC).仿真试验表明TCC有效、敏捷、鲁棒,扩展性好,同时实现简单,计算开销小,有利于高速路由器的性能优化.     

A novel Markov analytical model for the TCP/AQM systems

A novel closed-loop feedback TCP/AQM(Transfer Control Protocol/Active Queue Management) model is proposed in this paper using a discrete-time Markov chain,and a way to calculate the equilibrium distribution of this model is given.In the model,system time is divided into time slots,the bottleneck router queue model and TCP window size model in each slot are analyzed.Finally,by combining adjacent slots,an integrated TCP/AQM analytical model is developed.By this model,the average values of packets dropping rat...     

PAQM: an adaptive and proactive queue management for end‐to‐end TCP congestion control

Two functions, the congestion indicator (i.e. how to detect congestion) and the congestion control function (i.e. how to avoid and control congestion), are used at a router to support end‐to‐end congestion control in the Internet. Random early detection (RED) (IEEE/ACM Trans. Networking 1993; 1 (4):397–413) enhanced the two functions by introducing queue length averaging and probabilistic early packet dropping. In particular, RED uses an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) queue length not only to detect incipient congestion but also to smooth the bursty incoming traffic and its resulting transient congestion. Following RED, many active queue management (AQM)‐based extensions have been proposed. However, many AQM proposals have shown severe problems with detection and control of the incipient congestion adaptively to the dynamically changing network situations. In this paper, we introduce and analyse a feedback control model of TCP/AQM dynamics. Then, we propose the Pro‐active Queue Management (PAQM) mechanism, which is able to provide proactive congestion avoidance and control using an adaptive congestion indicator and a control function under a wide range of traffic environments. The PAQM stabilizes the queue length around the desired level while giving smooth and low packet loss rates and high network resource utilization. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

互联网中的不确定时滞全局滑模AQM算法

为解决互联网中的拥塞现象,基于全局滑模理论,提出了一种主动队列管理算法.将互联网中的不确定因素等效为拥塞控制模型的参数摄动,并考虑到时变时滞因素,利用线性矩阵不等式设计了渐近稳定的全局滑模面,使系统运动的全程都是滑动模态,显著提高了系统的鲁棒性.并且所设计的控制器能够有效降低路由器中队列长度的稳态振荡.仿真对比表明,所提出的算法具有更高的稳定性和鲁棒性,能够适应复杂多变的互联网环境.     

A dynamic quarantine scheme for controlling unresponsive TCP sessions

In addition to unresponsive UDP traffic, aggressive TCP flows pose a serious challenge to congestion control and stability of the future Internet. This paper considers the problem of dealing with such unresponsive TCP sessions that can be considered to collectively constitute a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack on conforming TCP sessions. The proposed policing scheme, called HaDQ (HaTCh-based Dynamic Quarantine), is based on a recently proposed HaTCh mechanism, which accurately estimates the number of active flows without maintenance of per-flow states in a router. We augment HaTCh with a small Content Addressable Memory (CAM), called quarantine memory, to dynamically quarantine and penalize the unresponsive TCP flows. We exploit the advantage of the smaller, first-level cache of HaTCh for isolating and detecting the aggressive flows. The aggressive flows from the smaller cache are then moved to the quarantine memory and are precisely monitored for taking appropriate punitive action. While the proposed HaDQ technique is quite generic in that it can work with or without any AQM scheme, in this paper we have integrated HaDQ and an AQM scheme to compare it against some of the existing techniques. For this, we extend the HaTCh scheme to develop a complete AQM mechanism, called HRED. Simulation-based performance analysis indicates that by using a proper configuration of the monitoring period and the detection threshold, the proposed HaDQ scheme can achieve a low false drop rate (false positives) of less than 0.1%. Comparison with two AQM schemes (CHOKe and FRED), which were proposed for handling unresponsive UDP flows, shows that HaDQ is more effective in penalizing the bandwidth attackers and enforcing fairness between conforming and aggressive TCP flows.     

主动队列管理中的PID控制器

作为对终端系统上拥塞控制的一种补充,中间节点上的主动队列管理(AQM)策略在保证较高吞吐量的基础上有效地控制队列长度,从而实现了控制端到端的时延,保证QoS的目的。C.Hollot等人(2001)用经典控制理论中频域校正的方法设计了用于AQM的PI控制器,但参数整定上的试凑方法不免代有盲目性;算法的瞬态性能指标也不够理想。为此,该文引入了微分环节来增强系统的响应能力,同时给出了基于稳定裕度的参数整定方法,使PID控制器的稳定性有了绝对保障。仿真试验表明PID算法的调节时间远远短于PI控制器,从而为在负载瞬息万变的网络环境中实现控制分组排队等待时间的目标提供了有力的技术保障。     

AQM controller design for TCP networks based on a new control strategy

When the network suffers from congestion, the core or edge routers signal the incidence of congestion through the active queue management (AQM) to the sources. The time-varying nature of the network dynamics and the complex process of retuning the current AQM algorithms for different operating points necessitate the development of a new AQM algorithm. Since the non-minimum phase characteristics of the network dynamics restrict direct application of the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller, we propose a compensated PID controller based on a new control strategy addressing the phase-lag and restrictions caused by the delay. Based on the unstable internal dynamics caused by the non-minimum phase characteristics, a dynamic compensator is designed and a PID controller is then allowed to meet the desired performance objectives by specifying appropriate dynamics for the tracking error. Since the controller gains are obtained directly from the dynamic model, the designed controller does not require to be tuned over the system operating envelop. Moreover, simulation results using ns2 show improvements over previous works especially when the range of variation of delay and model parameters are drastic. Simplicity, low computational cost, self-tuning structure and yet considerable improvement in performance are exclusive features of the proposed AQM for the edge or core routers.     

Detecting disruptive routers: a distributed network monitoringapproach

An attractive target for a computer system attacker is the router. An attacker in control of a router can disrupt communication by dropping or misrouting packets passing through the router. We present a protocol called WATCHERS which detects and reacts to routers that drop or misroute packets. WATCHERS is based on the principle of conservation of flow in a network: all data bytes sent into a node, and not destined for that node, are expected to exit the node. WATCHERS tracks this flow, and detects routers that violate the conservation principle. We show that WATCHERS has several advantages over existing network monitoring techniques. We discuss WATCHERS response to several different types of bad router behavior. We demonstrate that in ideal conditions WATCHERS makes no false positive diagnoses, and we describe how WATCHERS can be tuned to perform nearly as well in realistic conditions. Also, we argue that WATCHERS impact on router performance and WATCHERS memory requirements are reasonable for many environments     

A fuzzy-logic control algorithm for active Queue Management in IP networks

Active Queue Management （AQM） is an active research area in the Internet community. Random Early Detection （RED） is a typical AQM algorithm, but it is known that it is difficult to configure its parameters and its average queue length is closely related to the load level. This paper proposes an effective fuzzy congestion control algorithm based on fuzzy logic which uses the predominance of fuzzy logic to deal with uncertain events. The main advantage of this new congestion control algorithm is that it discards the packet dropping mechanism of RED, and calculates packet loss according to a preconfigured fuzzy logic by using the queue length and the buffer usage ratio. Theoretical analysis and Network Simulator （NS） simulation results show that the proposed algorithm achieves more throughput and more stable queue length than traditional schemes. It really improves a router＇s ability in network congestion control in IP network.     

基于区分服务的边缘路由器的服务质量

Internet real-time multimedia communication brings a further challenge to Quality of Service （QoS）. A higher QoS in communication is required increasingly. As a new framework for providing QoS services, Differentiated Services （DiffServ） is undergoing a speedily standardization process at the IETF. DiffServ not only can offer classified level of services, but also can provide guaranteed QoS in a certain extent. In order to provide QoS, DiffServ must be properly configured. The traditional DiffServ mechanism provides classifier for edge router to mark the different traffic streams, and then the core router uses different Drop Packet Mechanisms to drop packets or transmit data packets according to these classified markers. When multiple edge routers or other core routers transmit data packets high speedily to a single core router, the core router will emerge bottleneck bandwidth. The most valid solution to this problem is that the edge router adopts drop packet mechanism. This paper proposes an Modified Edge Router Mechanism that let the edge router achieve marking, dropping and transmitting packets of hybrid traffic streams based on DiffServ in a given bandwidth, the core router will only transmits packets but won＇t drop packets. By the simulation of ns2, the modified mechanism ensure the QoS of high priority traffics and simplify the core router, it is a valid method to solve the congestion of the core router.     

Active queue management algorithm based on data-driven predictive control

Model predictive control (MPC) is a popular strategy for active queue management (AQM) that is able to incorporate physical and user defined constraints. However, the current MPC methods rely on explicit fluid model of TCP behavior with input time delay. In this paper, we propose a novel AQM algorithm based on data-driven predictive control, called Data-AQM. For Internet system with large delay, complex change and bad disturbance, data-driven predictive controller can be obtained directly based on the input–output data alone and does not require any explicit model of the system. According to the input–output data, the future queue length in data buffer, which is the basis of optimizing drop probability, is predicted. Furthermore, considering system constraints, the control requirement is converted to the optimal control objective, then the drop probability is obtained by solving the optimal problem online. Finally, the performances of Data-AQM are evaluated through a series of simulations.     

A compensated PID active queue management controller using an improved queue dynamic model

Beside the major objective of providing congestion control, achieving predictable queuing delay, maximizing link utilization, and robustness are the main objectives of an active queue management (AQM) controller. This paper proposes an improved queue dynamic model while incorporating the packet drop probability as well. By applying the improved model, a new compensated PID AQM controller is developed for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) networks. The non‐minimum phase characteristic caused by Padé approximation of the network delay restricts the direct application of control methods because of the unstable internal dynamics. In this paper, a parameter‐varying dynamic compensator, which operates on tracking error and internal dynamics, is proposed to not only capture the unstable internal dynamics but also reduce the effect of uncertainties by unresponsive flows. The proposed dynamic compensator is then used to design a PID AQM controller whose gains are obtained directly from the state‐space representation of the system with no further gain tuning requirements. The packet‐level simulations using network simulator (ns2) show the outperformance of the developed controller for both queuing delay stability and resource utilization. The improved underlying model leads also to the faster response of the controller. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A novel AQM algorithm based on feedforward model predictive control

Developing feedforward model predictive controller as an active queue management (AQM) scheme is studied in this paper. MPC is an advanced control strategy for AQM. However, the conventional MPC is usually an implementable form of feedback MPC. In this paper, a feedforward and feedback optimal control law is presented. It is a clean, easily implementable, version of model predictive control that incorporates feedforward. Firstly, we use the nominal fluid model to design the feedforward control input so that the output tracks the given queue length with small error. Furthermore, in order to achieve robust performance and to reject the (unmeasured) disturbance, the feedback component is designed. In particular, a disturbance observer is incorporated into the prediction output in standard feedback MPC. This framework can significantly improve performance in the presence of measurement noise and certain types of model uncertainty. Finally, the simulation results show the effectiveness of FF‐AQM algorithm.     

Advances in Active Queue Management (AQM) Based TCP Congestion Control

Current end-to-end Internet congestion control under tail-drop (TD) queue management experiences performance degradations such as multiple packet losses, high queueing delay and low link utilization. In this paper, we review recently proposed active queue management (AQM) algorithms for supporting end-to-end transmission control protocol (TCP) congestion control. We focus recently developed control theoretic design and analysis method for the AQM based TCP congestion control dynamics. In this context, we analyze the problems of existing AQM proposals in which congestion is detected and controlled reactively based on current and/or past congestion. Then we argue that AQM based TCP congestion control should be adaptive to the dynamically changing traffic situation in order to detect, control and avoid the current and the incipient congestion proactively. Finally, we survey two adaptive and proactive AQM algorithms, PID-controller and Pro-Active Queue Management (PAQM), designed using classical proportional-integral–derivative (PID) feedback control to overcome the reactive congestion control dynamics of existing AQM algorithms. A comparative study of these AQM algorithms with existing AQM algorithms is given. A simulation study under a wide range of realistic traffic conditions suggests that PID-controller and PAQM outperform other AQM algorithms such as random early detection (RED) [Floyd and Jacobson, 18] and proportional-integral (PI) controller [Hollot et al., 24].     

Adaptive AQM controllers for IP routers with a heuristic monitor on TCP flows

We propose adaptive proportional (P) and proportional‐integral (PI) controllers for Active Queue Management (AQM) in the Internet. We apply the classical control theory in the controller design and choose a proper phase margin to achieve good performance of AQM. We have identified a simple heuristic parameter that can monitor the changes of network environment. Our adaptive controllers would self‐tune only when the dramatic change in the network parameters drift the monitoring parameter outside its specified interval. When compared to P controller, a PI controller has the advantage of regulating the TCP source window size by adjusting the packet drop probability based on the knowledge of instantaneous queue size, thus steadying the queue size around a target buffer occupancy. We have verified our controllers by OPNET simulation, and shown that with an adaptive PI controller applied, the network is asymptotically stable with good robustness. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.