Congestion control in utility fair networks

This paper deals with a congestion control framework for elastic and real-time traffic, where the user’s application is associated with a utility function. We allow users to have concave as well as non-concave utility functions, and aim at allocating bandwidth such that utility values are shared fairly. To achieve this, we transform all utilities into strictly concave second order utilities and interpret the resource allocation problem as the global optimization problem of maximizing aggregate second order utility. We propose a new fairness criterion, utility proportional fairness, which is characterized by the unique solution to this problem. Our fairness criterion incorporates utility max–min fairness as a limiting case. Based on our analysis, we obtain congestion control laws at links and sources that (i) are linearly stable regardless of the network topology, provided that a bound on round-trip-times is known, (ii) provide a utility proportional fair resource allocation in equilibrium. We further investigate the efficiency of utility fair resource allocations. Our measure of efficiency is defined as the worst case ratio of the total utility of a utility proportional fair rate vector and the maximum possible total utility. We present a generic technique, which allows to obtain upper bounds on the efficiency loss. For special cases, such as linear and concave utility functions, and non-concave utility functions with bounded domain, we explicitly calculate such upper bounds. Then, we study utility fair resource allocations with respect to bandwidth fairness. We derive a fairness metric assessing the aggressiveness of utility functions. This allows us to design fair utility functions for various applications. Finally, we simulate the proposed algorithms using the NS2 simulator.     

实时多播流的弹性公平性和基于门限的拥塞控制策略

该文提出了关于实时IP多播流基于速率弹性的公平性定义，并结合有关多播组规模估计的机制和多播拥塞控制算法。实现了一种基于门限的实时多播业务的等级拥塞控制策略，使实时多播流在满足瞬态弹性公平性的同时，也基本满足稳态的比例公平性，并对此进行了仿真验证。     

TCP with gateway adaptive pacing for multihop wireless networks with Internet connectivity

This paper introduces an effective congestion control pacing scheme for TCP over multihop wireless networks with Internet connectivity. The pacing scheme is implemented at the wireless TCP sender as well as at the Internet gateway, and reacts according to the direction of TCP flows running across the wireless network and the Internet. Moreover, we analyze the causes for the unfairness of oncoming TCP flows and propose a scheme to throttle aggressive wired-to-wireless TCP flows at the Internet gateway to achieve nearly optimal fairness. The proposed scheme, which we denote as TCP with Gateway Adaptive Pacing (TCP-GAP), does not impose any control traffic overhead for achieving fairness among active TCP flows and can be incrementally deployed since it does not require any modifications of TCP in the wired part of the network. In an extensive set of experiments using ns-2 we show that TCP-GAP is highly responsive to varying traffic conditions, provides nearly optimal fairness in all scenarios and achieves up to 42% more goodput for FTP-like traffic as well as up to 70% more goodput for HTTP-like traffic than TCP NewReno. We also investigate the sensitivity of the considered TCP variants to different bandwidths of the wired and wireless links with respect to both aggregate goodput and fairness.     

Priority Service Provisioning and Max–Min Fairness: A Utility-Based Flow Control Approach

In this paper, a novel priority assignment scheme is proposed for priority service networks, in which each link sets its own priority threshold, namely, the lowest priority the link is willing to support for the incoming packets without causing any congestion. Aiming at a reliable transmission, the source then assigns each originated packet the maximum priority value required along its path, because links may otherwise discard the incoming packets which do not meet the corresponding priority requirements. It is shown that if each source sends the traffic at a rate that is reciprocal to the specified highest priority, a bandwidth max–min fairness is achieved in the network. Furthermore, if each source possesses a utility function of the available bandwidth and sends the traffic at a rate so that the associated utility is reciprocal to the highest link priority, a utility max–min fairness is achieved. For general networks without priority services, the resulting flow control strategy can be treated as a unified framework to achieve either bandwidth max–min fairness or utility max–min fairness through link pricing policy. More importantly, the utility function herein is only assumed to be strictly increasing and does not need to satisfy the strictly concave condition, the new algorithms are thus not only suitable for the traditional data applications with elastic traffic, but are also capable of handling real-time applications in the Future Internet.     

基于粒子群的TCP非凸优化速率控制算法

为了有效地解决网络中拥塞问题,针对实际网络中存在非弹性流的情况,考虑了网络中非凸优化速率控制问题。基于最大化用户效用函数框架,去掉了以往研究中对效用函数的严格假设,利用粒子群方法设计了分布式速率控制算法。算法中链路从网络获知拥塞链路的条数,用户根据对应的效用函数和拥塞反馈信息调整自身速率。仿真结果表明,算法可以很快地收敛到最优速率。     

Investigating the performance of TCP in mobile ad hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc networks have several inherent characteristics (e.g. dynamic topology, time-varying and bandwidth constrained wireless channels, multi-hop routing, and distributed control and management). The goal of this work is to investigate the impact of these characteristics on the performance of TCP. First, we investigate throughput performance of TCP as a function of path length (i.e. multiple wireless hops), node mobility, and traffic intensity. Next, we examine the ‘fairness’ of the ad hoc network with regard to equal sharing of network bandwidth among multiple TCP flows. Third, we evaluate the impact of two on-demand routing protocols (i.e. AODV and DSR) on the throughput of TCP. Finally, a factorial design experiment is conducted to quantify the effects and interactions of three factors, which influence the throughput of TCP. These factors include routing, node speed, and node pause time. Two key results were observed. Results show that traffic intensity (e.g. number of concurrent flows) is significantly affects TCP throughput, suggesting the need for congestion control, scheduling and traffic management schemes. Second, source routing achieves higher throughputs while also generating significantly less routing overhead than AODV. Results also show that in some instances, the fairness of the network is very uneven among concurrent TCP flows, resulting in several sending stations achieving very little or no throughput.     

A novel contention-on-demand design for WiFi hotspots

In widely deployed wireless “hot-spot” networks, nodes frequently join or leave, and inelastic/elastic and saturated/nonsaturated flows coexist. In such dynamic and diverse environments, it is challenging to maximize the channel utilization while providing satisfactory user experiences. In this paper, we propose a novel contention-on-demand (CoD) MAC scheme to address this problem. The CoD scheme consists of a fixed-CW algorithm, a dynamic-CW algorithm, and an admission control rule. The fixed-CW algorithm allows elastic flows to access limited system bandwidth; the dynamic-CW algorithm enables inelastic flows to contend for channel on demand and quickly adapt to network change; and the admission control rule rejects overloaded traffic for providing good user experiences. We then perform an asymptotic analysis to develop a simple and practical admission control rule for homogeneous and heterogeneous traffic; our rule can not only adapt to the change in offered loads and node number, but also maximize the system utilization. Finally, extensive simulations verify that our scheme is very effective and our theoretical result is very accurate.     

RAAR:多媒体流在Internet上传输的一种TCP-Friendly拥塞控制机制

提出了一种接收端的速率自适应算法，称为RAAR。它可以应用于单播传输多媒体数据业务。TCP由于它的遇到单个数据包丢失就减半的特点，造成速率剧烈抖动，不适合传输多媒体数据。UDP由于没有拥塞机制也是不合适的。RAAR在接收端对GAIMD进行了改进，使得它有良好的速率平滑性以及能够与竞争的TCP流公平地分享带宽。RAAR算法比较简单，我们的仿真显示：RAAR的性能明显优于TFRC。由于RAAR没有每包确认机制，而且又是在接收端实现，所以它适合于升级到组播传输多媒体业务。     

一种改进的TCP拥塞控制算法

目前,TCP拥塞控制算法作为一种可靠的数据传输被广泛应用在因特网中．在保证网络数据传输可靠性的基础上,数据流之间的公平性是算法设计的重要的性能指标之一．在单瓶颈网络环境下对TCP数据流之间的研究算法已经被提出,但对多瓶颈网络环境下TCP数据流之间的公平性研究至今不多见．因此,根据网络层的显示拥塞指示Marking Relay ECN（explicit congestion notification,ECN）技术,研究了在多瓶颈网络环境下TCP数据流的公平性,提出了一种改进的TCP拥塞控制算法,并使该算法在IP网络中得以实现．仿真结果证明,此算法在多瓶颈网络环境下能使TCP流达到较好的数据流之间的公平性;而且所提出的算法与传统的TCP算法相比,有更高的吞吐量和更快的响应．总之,所提算法性能表现良好．     

Rate control for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks: Characterization,algorithms and performance

This paper addresses the rate control and resource allocation problem for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks, which consist of diverse node types or modalities such as sensors and actuators, and different tasks or applications. The performance of these applications, either elastic traffic nature (e.g., typical data collection) or inelastic traffic nature (e.g., real-time monitoring and controlling), is modeled as a utility function of the sensor source rate. The traditional rate control approach, which requires the utility function to be strictly concave, is no longer applicable because of the involvement of inelastic traffic. Therefore, we develop a utility framework of rate control for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks with single- and multiple-path routing, and propose utility fair rate control algorithms, that are able to allocate the resources (wireless channel capacity and sensor node energy) efficiently and guarantee the application performance in a utility proportional or max–min fair manner. Furthermore, the optimization and convergence of the algorithm is investigated rigorously as well.     

TCP流的带宽公平性保证机制研究

端到端的TCP拥塞控制机制使得TCP连接获得的瓶颈带宽反比于RTT。为了缓解TCP对于RTT较小流的偏向，区分服务的流量调节机制在RTT较小的流取得目标速率且获得多余资源的情况下可以确保RTT较大流不至于饥饿。现有的方法在网络拥塞程度较重或者RTT差异较大时不能有效地工作，因此提出了一种改进方法。其主要思想就是根据网络的拥塞程度自适应地调整对RTT较大流的保护程度。大量的仿真试验表明，所提的机制能有效保障TCP流的带宽公平性并且比现有方法具有更好的性能。     

一种提高稳定性和公平性的主动队列管理机制

结合平均队列和负载衡量拥塞,实现选择性丢包,提出早期选择性丢包算法(ESD)．ESD采用指数函数计算丢包概率,使丢包概率随拥塞程度增大而指数递增;引入记录活跃连接状态信息的虚队列,并在虚队列上假轮转,以检测发送速率大的连接;区分非响应性连接和响应性连接,挑选丢包的候选连接,拥塞时优先丢弃候选连接在队列头部的数据包．实验结果表明,ESD可提高队列稳定性,降低Web流和RTT较大连接的丢包率,提高连接占用带宽的公平性,缩短应用响应时间．     

Flow-optimized random access for wireless multihop networks

We study elastic traffic performance in time-slotted wireless random access networks, where the link access probabilities are adjusted at flow level each time a new flow (file transfer) arrives or a flow in progress terminates. By defining the capacity sets of such networks we carry out performance analysis in a dynamic setting, where the flows come and go and share the resources according to the balanced fairness principle. We derive flow throughput analytically for three special scenarios and devise an algorithm for general networks. At low loads, flow-optimized random access yields almost the same performance as optimal/deterministic scheduling.     

Toward end-to-end fairness: a framework for the allocation of multiple prioritized resources in switches and routers

As flows of traffic traverse a network, they share with other flows a variety of resources such as links, buffers and router CPUs in their path. Fairness is an intuitively desirable property in the allocation of resources in a network shared among flows of traffic from different users. While fairness in bandwidth allocation over a shared link has been extensively studied, overall end-to-end fairness in the use of all the resources in the network is ultimately the desired goal. End-to-end fairness becomes especially critical when fair allocation algorithms are used as a component of the mechanisms used to provide end-to-end quality-of-service guarantees. This paper seeks to answer the question of what is fair when a set of traffic flows share multiple resources in the network with a shared order of preference for the opportunity to use these resources. We present the Principle of Fair Prioritized Resource Allocation or the FPRA principle, a powerful extension of any of the classic notions of fairness such as max–min fairness, proportional fairness and utility max–min fairness defined over a single resource. We illustrate this principle by applying it to a system model with a buffer and an output link shared among competing flows of traffic. To complete our illustration of the applicability of the FPRA principle, we propose a measure of fairness and evaluate representative buffer allocation algorithms based on this measure. Besides buffer allocation, the FPRA principle may also be used in other contexts in data communication networks and operating system design.     

Admission control for differentiated services in future generation CDMA networks

Future Generation CDMA wireless systems, e.g., 3G, can simultaneously accommodate flow transmissions of users with widely heterogeneous applications. As radio resources are limited, we propose an admission control rule that protects users with stringent transmission bit-rate requirements (“streaming traffic”) while offering sufficient capacity over longer time intervals to delay-tolerant users (“elastic traffic”). While our strategy may not satisfy classical notions of fairness, we aim to reduce congestion and increase overall throughput of elastic users. Using time-scale decomposition, we develop approximations to evaluate the performance of our differentiated admission control strategy to support integrated services with transmission bit-rate requirements in a realistic downlink transmission scenario for a single radio cell.     

Utility function of TCP

Understanding the TCP congestion control mechanism from a global optimization point of view is not only important in its own right, but also crucial to the design of other transport layer traffic control protocols with provable properties. In this paper, we derive a global utility function and the corresponding optimal control law, known as TCP control law, which maximizes the global utility. The TCP control law captures the essential behaviors of TCP, including slow start, congestion avoidance, and the binary nature of congestion feedback in TCP. We find that the utility function of TCP is linear in the slow start phase and is proportional to the additive increase rate and approaches the well-known logarithm function as the data rate becomes large in the congestion avoidance phase. We also find that understanding the slow start phase with a fixed threshold is critical to the design of new transport layer control protocols to enable quality of service features. Finally, as an application, we design a Minimum Rate Guaranteed (MRG) traffic control law that shares the same utility function as the TCP control law. Our simulation study of the MRG control law indicates that it is indeed TCP friendly and can provide minimum rate guarantee as long as the percentage of network resource consumed by the MRG flows is moderately small.     

城市交通计算机区域自适应控制系统

城市交通信号控制系统是现代城市交通管理系统的中枢,也是智能交通系统的重要组成部分。其管理与控制手段的优劣将直接影响城市道路交通拥堵或疏通的效果。虽然城市道路交叉口信号控制有改善交通流秩序与保障安全的优点,但是若不能提供优化的控制,将会产生交通流停顿与拥堵的负面效果,会成为城市交通拥堵的一个重要原因。运用高科技手段建设现代化的交通信号控制系统已经势在必行。     

Urban traffic congestion estimation and prediction based on floating car trajectory data

Traffic flow prediction is an important precondition to alleviate traffic congestion in large-scale urban areas. Recently, some estimation and prediction methods have been proposed to predict the traffic congestion with respect to different metrics such as accuracy, instantaneity and stability. Nevertheless, there is a lack of unified method to address the three performance aspects systematically. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to estimate and predict the urban traffic congestion using floating car trajectory data efficiently. In this method, floating cars are regarded as mobile sensors, which can probe a large scale of urban traffic flows in real time. In order to estimate the traffic congestion, we make use of a new fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method in which the weights of multi-indexes are assigned according to the traffic flows. To predict the traffic congestion, an innovative traffic flow prediction method using particle swarm optimization algorithm is responsible for calculating the traffic flow parameters. Then, a congestion state fuzzy division module is applied to convert the predicted flow parameters to citizens’ cognitive congestion state. Experimental results show that our proposed method has advantage in terms of accuracy, instantaneity and stability.     

调度和拥塞控制相结合的无线网络资源分配模型

研究了基于WLAN访问Internet的网络基站处流,提出了一种基于队列长度的调度方法和基于信道容量的拥塞控制模式,以达到网络资源的公平分配,并解决由于不恰当处理基站处堆积数据包而引起的弊端。在提出的资源分配模型中,调度算法根据各条流堆积的队列长度来随机地选择将要发送的数据分组;而拥塞控制模式中,将链路使用率作为拥塞指示,通过计算,平等地反馈给每一条流的发送端。发送端根据反馈到的拥塞信息来调整发送速率,以达到资源分配的公平性。仿真的结果表明：各条流能公平地共享无线网络的带宽。此算法的最大的优点在于基站不需要按照某种特定的公平性定义来选择数据包却能达到很高的公平性。     

Traffic information interpolation method based on traffic flow emergence using swarm intelligence

Traffic congestion has become one of the most pressing social problems in today’s society, and research into appropriate traffic signal control is actively underway. At present, most traffic signal control methods define traffic signal parameters on the basis of traffic information such as the number of passing vehicles. Installing sensors at a vast number of intersections is necessary for more precise and real-time adaptive control, but this is unrealistic from the viewpoint of cost. As an alternative, we propose a swarm intelligence-based methodology that creates routes with a similar traffic volume using the traffic information from intersections already equipped with sensors and interpolates this information in the intersections without sensors in real time. Our simulation results show that the proposed methodology can effectively create similar traffic routes for main traffic flows with high traffic volumes. The results also show that it has an excellent interpolation performance for heavy traffic flows and can adapt and interpolate to situations where traffic flow changes suddenly. Moreover, the interpolation results are highly accurate at a road link where traffic flows confluence. We also developed an interpolation algorithm that is adaptable to traffic patterns with confluence traffic flows. Experiments were conducted with a simulation of merging traffic flows and the proposed method showed good results.