Providing service differentiation for optical-burst-switched networks

This paper proposes a service differentiation scheme called preemptive wavelength reservation protocol (PWRP) to provide proportional quality of service (QoS) for optical-burst-switched (OBS) networks. In the context of service differentiation, traffic is divided into different service classes based on traffic characteristics. A service differentiation scheme then provides different degrees of resource assurance to different classes of traffic in proportion to their service classes. Unlike existing approaches, which may degrade to classless schemes or which may suffer from low wavelength utilization, the mechanism in this paper is robust and efficient and supports an incremental deployment of QoS support. A usage profile for each class is maintained at the router, and a preemptive wavelength reservation mechanism is implemented to ensure QoS. An analytical model is derived and simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance. The results show that the approach described in this paper performs better than existing mechanisms in terms of lower blocking probability and higher resource utilization, making it an excellent QoS mechanism for OBS networks.     

An Absolute QoS Framework for Loss Guarantees in Optical Burst-Switched Networks

In order to meet the requirements of real-time applications, Optical Burst Switched backbone networks need to provide quantitative edge-to-edge loss guarantees to traffic flows. For this purpose, there have been several proposals based on the relative differentiation quality of service (QoS) model. However, this model has an inherent difficulty in communicating information about internal network states to the edge in a timely manner for making admission control decisions. In this paper, we propose an absolute QoS framework to overcome this difficulty. The key idea is to offer quantitative loss guarantees at each hop using a differentiation mechanism and an admission control mechanism. The edge-to-edge loss requirement is then translated into a series of small per-node loss probabilities that are allocated to the intermediate core nodes. The framework includes a preemptive differentiation scheme, a node-based admission control scheme and an edge-to-edge reservation scheme. The schemes are analyzed and evaluated through simulation. It is shown that the framework can effectively offer quantitative edge-to-edge loss guarantees under various traffic conditions.     

A framework for guaranteeing statistical QoS

Continuous-media traffic (i.e., audio and video) can tolerate some loss but have rigid delay constraints. A natural QoS requirement for a continuous-media connection is a prescribed limit on the fraction of traffic that exceeds an end-to-end delay constraint. We propose and analyze a framework that provides such a statistical QoS guarantee to traffic in a packet-switched network. Providing statistical guarantees in a network is a notoriously difficult problem because traffic flows lose their original statistical characterizations at the outputs of queues. Our scheme uses bufferless statistical multiplexing combined with cascaded leaky buckets for smoothing and traffic contracting. This scheme along with a novel method for bounding the loss probability gives a tractable framework for providing end-to-end statistical QoS. Using MPEG video traces, we present numerical results that compare the connection-carrying capacity of our scheme with that of guaranteed service schemes (i.e., no loss) using GPS and RCS. Our numerical work indicates that our scheme can support significantly more connections without introducing significant traffic loss     

A Novel Optical Burst Assembly Technique Based on a Dynamic Threshold Mechanism to Support Scalable QoS

In IP networks, coarse packet classification is a scalable QoS solution. Similarly, it can also be utilized to an OBS network. In order to match IP QoS requirements with the data processing capacity and flexibility of OBS networks, we propose a novel optical burst assembly technique, which is based on mapping rules and a dynamic threshold mechanism called ATQ-DT. How to map the IP QoS to burst priority is resolved by the mapping rules, and how to efficiently allocate the assembly capacity among classes belonging to the same priority is answered by ATQ-DT. This mechanism determines the maximum share for each class, which is proportional to the current unused capacity. Among the three mapping rules we propose, TQ-MAP is the most reasonable one because it considers both the traffic condition and the QoS requirement. As shown by simulation results, the assembly technique ATQ-DT with TQ-MAP can most remarkably improve the packets loss probability (PLP) to support QoS.     

Efficient scheduling discipline for Hierarchical Diff‐EDF

Packet networks are currently enabling the integration of traffic with a wide range of characteristics that extend from video traffic with stringent quality of service (QoS) requirements to the best‐effort traffic requiring no guarantees. QoS guarantees can be provided in conventional packet networks by the use of proper packet‐scheduling algorithms. As a computer revolution, many scheduling algorithms have been proposed to provide different schemes of QoS guarantees, with Earliest Deadline First (EDF) as the most popular one. With EDF scheduling, all flows receive the same miss rate regardless of their traffic characteristics and deadlines. This makes the standard EDF algorithm unsuitable for situations in which the different flows have different miss rate requirements since in order to meet all miss rate requirements it is necessary to limit admissions so as to satisfy the flow with the most stringent miss rate requirements. In this paper, we propose a new priority assignment scheduling algorithm, Hierarchal Diff‐EDF (Differentiate Earliest Deadline First), which can meet the real‐time needs of these applications while continuing to provide best‐effort service to non‐real time traffic. The Hierarchal Diff‐EDF features a feedback control mechanism that detects overload conditions and modifies packet priority assignments accordingly. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Providing deterministic quality-of-service guarantees on WDM optical networks

A major challenge in the design of future generation high-speed networks is the provision of guaranteed quality-of-service (QoS) for a wide variety of multimedia applications. In this paper we investigate the problem of providing QoS guarantees to real-time variable length messages (e.g., IP packets) in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical networks. In particular, we propose a systematic mechanism comprised of admission control, traffic regulation, and message scheduling that provide guaranteed performance service for real-time application streams made up of variable-length messages. We formulate an analytical model based on the theory of max-plus algebra to evaluate the deterministic bounded message delay in a WDM network environment using our proposed QoS guarantee mechanism to determine the "schedulability conditions" of multimedia application streams, We also conduct a series of discrete-event and trace-driven simulations to verify the accuracy of the analytical model. The simulation results demonstrate that the analytic delay bound we obtained for our WDM optical network is valid and accurate.     

光突发交换网络中基于波长分集的QoS算法

光突发交换(Optical Burst Switching, OBS)被公认为是构建下一代光网络的有效交换技术。在OBS网络中有效地支持QoS (Quality of Service)是一个很重要的问题。该文从波长分集的思想出发,提出了几种适合OBS的QoS算法。这些算法可以根据各个优先级业务的变化情况,动态地调整各个优先级的业务使用的波长数目。通过仿真,并和已有算法相比,说明所提出的算法可以更好地提供区分服务,同时有效提高信道的利用率,降低整体的丢失率。     

Proactive Wavelength Pre-Emption for Supporting Absolute QoS in Optical-Burst-Switched Networks

Optical burst switching (OBS) has increasingly received attention as a potentially bandwidth-efficient approach to support an all-optical Internet for the ever-growing broadband traffic. In this paper, the authors address how to provide efficient end-to-end quality-of-service guarantees in OBS networks. Proactive wavelength pre-emption is proposed in order to achieve the upper bound on end-to-end burst loss probability for guaranteed traffic. Their simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is an effective solution for providing incessantly end-to-end loss guarantee for mission-critical applications     

Providing deterministic packet delays and packet losses in multimedia wireless networks

‘Anytime, anywhere’ communication, information access and processing are much cherished in modern societies because of their ability to bring flexibility, freedom and increased efficiency to individuals and organizations. Wireless communications, by providing ubiquitous and tetherless network connectivity to mobile users, are therefore bound to play a major role in the advancement of our society. Although initial proposals and implementations of wireless communications are generally focused on near‐term voice and electronic messaging applications, it is recognized that future wireless communications will have to evolve towards supporting a wider range of applications, including voice, video, data, images and connections to wired networks. This implies that future wireless networks must provide quality‐of‐service (QoS) guarantees to various multimedia applications in a wireless environment. Typical traffic in multimedia applications can be classified as either Constant‐Bit‐Rate (CBR) traffic or Variable‐Bit‐Rate (VBR) traffic. In particular, scheduling the transmission of VBR multimedia traffic streams in a wireless environment is very challenging and is still an open problem. In general, there are two ways to guarantee the QoS of VBR multimedia streams, either deterministically or statistically. In particular, most connection admission control (CAC) algorithms and medium access control (MAC) protocols that have been proposed for multimedia wireless networks only provide statistical, or soft, QoS guarantees. In this paper, we consider deterministic QoS guarantees in multimedia wireless networks. We propose a method for constructing a packet‐dropping mechanism that is based on a mathematical framework that determines how many packets can be dropped while the required QoS can still be preserved. This is achieved by employing: (1) An accurate traffic characterization of the VBR multimedia traffic streams; (2) A traffic regulator that can provide bounded packet loss and (3) A traffic scheduler that can provide bounded packet delay. The combination of traffic characterization, regulation and scheduling can provide bounded loss and delay deterministically. This is a distinction from traditional deterministic QoS schemes in which a 0% packet loss are always assumed with deterministically bounding the delay. We performed a set of performance evaluation experiments. The results will demonstrate that our proposed QoS guarantee schemes can significantly support more connections than a system, which does not allow any loss, at the same required QoS. Moreover, from our evaluation experiments, we found that the proposed algorithms are able to out‐perform scheduling algorithms adopted in state‐of‐the‐art wireless MAC protocols, for example Mobile Access Scheme Based on Contention and Reservation for ATM (MASCARA) when the worst‐case traffic is being considered. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Per-Stream QoS and Admission Control in Ethernet Passive Optical Networks (EPONs)

Ethernet passive optical networks (EPONs) are designed to deliver services for numerous applications such as voice over Internet protocol, standard and high-definition video, video conferencing (interactive video), and data traffic. Various dynamic bandwidth allocation and intra-optical network unit (ONU) scheduling algorithms have been proposed to enable EPONs to deliver differentiated services for traffic with different quality of service (QoS) requirements. However, none of these protocols and schedulers can guarantee bandwidth for each class of service nor can they protect the QoS level required by admitted real-time traffic streams. In this paper, we propose the first framework for per-stream QoS protection in EPONs using a two-stage admission control (AC) system. The first stage enables the ONU to perform flow admission locally according to the bandwidth availability, and the second stage allows for global AC at the optical line terminal. Appropriate bandwidth allocation algorithms are presented as well. An event-driven simulation model is implemented to study the effectiveness of the proposed schemes in providing and protecting QoS.     

A framework of prioritized burst segmentation supporting controlled retransmission in OBS networks

In optical burst switching (OBS) networks, burst contentions in OBS core nodes may cause data loss. To reduce data loss, retransmission scheme has been applied. However, uncontrolled retransmission may increase network load significantly and data loss probability defeating the retransmission purpose. In addition, in a priority traffic existing OBS network, OBS nodes may apply different retransmission mechanisms to priorities bursts for quality-of-service (QoS) support. This study has developed a controlled retransmission scheme for prioritized burst segmentation to support QoS in OBS networks. Unlike previous works in the literature, we have set a different value to retransmission probability at each contention and propose a retransmission analytical model for burst segmentation contention resolution scheme. In addition, we have applied the proposed retransmission scheme to the prioritized burst segmentation for QoS support. We have taken into account the load at each link due to both fresh and retransmitted traffic, and have calculated the path blocking probability and byte loss probability (ByLP) for high-priority and low-priority burst to evaluate network performance. An extensive simulation has been proposed to validate our analytical model.     

The study of QoS guarantee in the optical burst switching internet backbone

Optical switching technology can be categorized into optical circuit switching (OCS), optical packet switching (OPS) and optical burst switching (OBS). OCS is suitable for large amounts of data transmission; however, the channel utilization is inefficient when the traffic flows are intermittent. OPS can be easily adapted to any higher layer and is suitable for bursty traffic, but it requires a highly complex technology and optical buffer. The new switching paradigm, OBS, can provide higher bandwidth utilization and meanwhile avoid the complexity in OPS technology.In this paper, we investigate how the quality of service (QoS) can be guaranteed and reliable transmission can be supported in the OBS-based Internet backbone. We propose the adjustable-time-counter-based (ATCB) burst assembly and the non-real time packet retransmission mechanisms and apply them in the ingress router of the OBS Internet backbone to guarantee the quality of real time applications and lossless requirement of non-real time services. Moreover, traffic shaped is performed for real time packets in the egress router so that the real time property is preserved with a low jitter. Simulation results show that the burst blocking probability using the ATCB burst assembly is improved, compared with the time-counter-based (TCB) and burst-length-threshold-based (BLTB) mechanisms. The delay, loss and jitter of real time service conform to the QoS requirement. Meanwhile, the delay of non-real time service also falls in the acceptable range.     

Bandwidth Sharing Schemes for Multimedia Traffic in the IEEE 802.11e Contention-Based WLANs

Bandwidth allocation schemes have been well studied for mobile cellular networks. However, there is no study about this aspect reported for IEEE 802.11 contention-based distributed wireless LANs. In cellular networks, bandwidth is deterministic in terms of the number of channels by frequency division, time division, or code division. On the contrary, bandwidth allocation in contention- based distributed wireless LANs is extremely challenging due to its contention-based nature, packet-based network, and the most important aspect: only one channel is available, competed for by an unknown number of stations. As a consequence, guaranteeing bandwidth and allocating bandwidth are both challenging issues. In this paper, we address these difficult issues. We propose and study nine bandwidth allocation schemes, called sharing schemes, with guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS) for integrated voice/video/data traffic in IEEE 802.11e contention-based distributed wireless LANs. A guard period is proposed to prevent bandwidth allocation from overprovisioning and is for best-effort data traffic. Our study and analysis show that the guard period is a key concept for QoS guarantees in a contention-based channel. The proposed schemes are compared and evaluated via extensive simulations.     

光突发交换网络中服务质量保证机制的研究

如何在光突发交换(OBS)网络中为承载的业务提供服务质量(QoS)保证,已经成为当前OBS领域的一个研究热点.从算法思想、QoS保证性能等方面,对当前几种主要的服务质量保证机制进行了研究:基于偏置时间的QoS机制、分段型QoS机制、比例型QoS机制、抢占式QoS机制、IP DiffServ over OBS的QoS机制以及基于数据信道分组的QoS机制.探讨了在设计一个有效的QoS保证机制时应考虑的因素以及今后的研究方向.     

QUORUM—Quality of Service in Wireless Mesh Networks

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) can provide seamless broadband connectivity to network users with low setup and maintenance costs. To support next-generation applications with real-time requirements, however, these networks must provide improved quality of service guarantees. Current mesh protocols use techniques that fail to accurately predict the performance of end-to-end paths, and do not optimize performance based on knowledge of mesh network structures. In this paper, we propose QUORUM, a routing protocol optimized for WMNs that provides accurate QoS properties by correctly predicting delay and loss characteristics of data traffic. QUORUM integrates a novel end-to-end packet delay estimation mechanism with stability-aware routing policies, allowing it to more accurately follow QoS requirements while minimizing misbehavior of selfish nodes.     

A Per-Flow Based Node Architecture for Integrated Services Packet Networks

As the Internet transforms from the traditional best-effort service network into QoS-capable multi-service network, it is essential to have new architectural design and appropriate traffic control algorithms in place. This paper presents a network node architecture and several traffic management mechanisms that are capable of achieving QoS provisioning for the guaranteed service (GS), the controlled-load (CL) service, and the best-effort (BE) service for future integrated services networks. A key feature of our architecture is that it resolves the out-of-sequence problem associated with the traditional design. We also propose two novel packet discarding mechanisms called selective pushout (SP) and selective pushout plus (SP+). Simulation results show that, once admitted into the network, our architecture and traffic management algorithms provide, under all conditions, hard performance guarantees to GS flows and consistent (or soft) performance guarantees to CL flows, respectively; minimal negative impact to in-profile GS, CL and BE traffic should there be any out-of-profile behavior from some CL flows.     

Mobile flow-aware networks for mobility and QoS support in the IP-based wireless networks

As the volume of mobile traffic consisting of video, voice, and data is rapidly expanding, a challenge remains with the mobile transport network, which must deliver data traffic to mobile devices without degrading the service quality. Since every Internet service holds its own service quality requirements, the flow-aware traffic management in fine granularity has been widely investigated to guarantee Quality of Service (QoS) in the IP networks. However, the mobile flow-aware management has not been sufficiently developed yet because of the inherent constraints of flow routing in the mobile networks regarding flow-aware mobility and QoS support. In this paper, we propose a flow-aware mobility and QoS support scheme called mobile flow-aware network (MFAN) for IP-based wireless mobile networks. The proposed scheme consists of dynamic handoff mechanisms based on QoS requirements per flow to reduce the processing overhead of the flow router while ensuring QoS guarantee to mobile flows. The performance analyses of the proposed scheme demonstrate that MFAN successfully supports the mobile flow traffic delivery while satisfying the QoS requirement of flows in the wireless mobile IP networks.     

Service differentiation scheme in OBS networks

In order to achieve service differentiation, especially loss differentiation, in optical burst switching (OBS) networks, we propose a dynamic fiber delay line (FDL) partitioning algorithm, which divides FDLs into several groups over a feed-forward output buffering architecture. In the proposed scheme, a plurality of traffic classes and FDL groups can be considered, and each FDL group is assigned to traffic classes, so that the target loss probabilities of classes are guaranteed. Also, the optimal number of FDLs for each FDL group by the proposed algorithm is decided in Poisson traffic environments. The extensive simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed dynamic FDL partitioning algorithm for the loss differentiation in OBS networks.     

Enhancing Class-Based Service Architectures With Adaptive Rate Allocation and Dropping Mechanisms

Class-based service differentiation can be realized without resource reservation, admission control and traffic policing. However, the resulting service guarantees are only relative, in the sense that guarantees given to a flow class at any time are expressed with reference to the service given to other flow classes. While it is, in principle, not feasible to provision for absolute guarantees (i.e., to assure lower bounds on service metrics at all times) without admission control and/or traffic policing, we will show in this paper that such a service can be reasonably well emulated using adaptive rate allocation and dropping mechanisms at the link schedulers of routers. We name the resulting type of guarantees best-effort bounds. We propose mechanisms for link schedulers of routers that achieve these and other guarantees by adjusting the drop rates and the service rate allocations of traffic classes to current load conditions. The mechanisms are rooted in control theory and employ adaptive feedback loops. We demonstrate that these mechanisms can realize many recently proposed approaches to class-based service differentiation. The effectiveness of the proposed mechanisms are evaluated in measurement experiments of a kernel-level implementation in FreeBSD PC-routers with multiple 100 Mbps Ethernet interfaces, complemented with simulations of larger scale networks.