Traffic profiles in ATM networks

A lot of studies have been made to characterize and model sources of ATM traffic (voice, data, video) and to evaluate the performance of a multiplexer whose input is a superposition of these sources, using different methods and techniques (fluid flow, matrix-analytic, etc.). However, in order to better understand the end-to-end performance of ATM connections, characterizations and models of ATM traffic inside the network (i.e. after passage through one or more network elements) are needed. In this paper we intend to study the following problems: (i) Traffic profile of an ATM connection after being policed, in particular worst case traffic, and evaluation of the performance of the related statistical multiplexer. (ii) Traffic profile of the output of a multiplexer (characterized by means of the interdeparture time distribution and the index of dispersion for counts and the index of dispersion for interarrival times). (iii) Traffic profile of a single connection after passing a multiplexer. The aim is to obtain useful characterizations and models of ATM traffic in order to evaluate the performance and the efficiency of ATM network elements and of traffic control functions.This work was supported in part by the Commission of the European Communities, under project RACE R2024 (Research and Development on Advanced Communications in Europe) on Broadband Access Facilities.     

ATM公平排队服务算法

异步转移模式ＡＴＭ作为一种新的交换和复接体制，已经被国际电联ＩＴＵ挑选为宽带综合业务数字网Ｂ－ＩＳＤＮ的核心技术。ＡＴＭ技术的主要目的是使数据业务、视频业务、话音业务等能在统一的全数字网络中实现传输和交换，同时提供灵活简捷有效的动态资源分配。文章在说明通信业务各自千差万别特征的基础上，进行业务归类，并给出几种公平排队服务算法。     

A multiservice user descriptive traffic source model

The asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)-based broadband integrated services digital network (B-ISDN) dominates the research interest in telecommunications. Traffic and network modeling are the techniques used for performance evaluation and assessment of B-ISDN design alternatives and planning. The specific nature of the ATM technique requires new approaches for traffic modeling. Selecting appropriate traffic source models is an important issue, since it is closely related to the successful design and efficient performance of the networks to be built in the future. The source (multilevel, multiservice structured Markovian) model presented provides a simple way for characterizing the behavior of a telecommunication user recognizing the multilevel discipline of a telecommunication session. The traffic model is general enough to fit a variety of different services by appropriately varying the values of the parameters defining it, but also it is simple enough because it is described by a small number of parameters and the defining parameters make a good intuitive sense by being closely related to actual physical quantities     

Nonblocking architectures for ATM switching

General models for a class of nonblocking architectures of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switches are described. Hardware aspects are discussed to show the implementation feasibility of the proposed switch architectures by means of the current technology. Performance issues are studied to point out the traffic bottlenecks of the different structures. It is shown that the classification of queueing is the main concept that enables the classification of nonblocking ATM switches. Three main packet queueing strategies can be adopted in the switching fabric: input queueing, shared queueing, and output queueing. Switch architectures adopting only one of these strategies are described. The ways in which two strategies can be jointly adopted in a switching fabric to result in the mixed queueing strategies input-output queueing, input-shared queueing, and shared-output queueing are also discussed     

An error-controlled approximate analysis of a stochastic fluid flowmodel applied to an ATM multiplexer with heterogeneous on-off sources

The stochastic fluid flow approach is applied to the analysis of the cell loss performance of an ATM multiplexer. The input traffic stream offered to the multiplexer is the superposition of heterogeneous on-off sources with independent and exponentially distributed on and off times. The focus is on the numerical investigation of the steady-state behavior of models involving very large state spaces. To this end, an efficient algorithm for the evaluation of tight upper and lower bounds of the cell loss probability is developed. The algorithm allows a significant reduction of the computational burden, while yielding a guaranteed overestimate of the error implied by the proposed approximation of the cell loss probability. Numerical results are presented both to assess the tightness of the proposed bounds and to gain insight into the behavior of heterogeneous traffic mixes. The main conclusion, from the multiplexer performance evaluation point of view, is that it is not convenient to mix very different traffic streams in a completely shared FIFO buffer, without some kind of control     

Priority queueing strategies and buffer allocation protocols fortraffic control at an ATM integrated broadband switching system

The problem of furnishing an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) based broadband-ISDN (B-ISDN) with two bearer services supporting different grades of transfer quality is addressed. The focus is on priority bandwidth and buffer management in the ATM communications nodes (switches, multiplexers or concentrators, and expanders) in the context of a multichannel network architecture. Detailed queueing analyses and simulations and results are provided to evaluate the differentiation between traffic classes that can be achieved by different strategies. The implementation complexity of the different schemes is discussed. Various priority queueing strategies characterized mainly by different degrees of resource sharing and a general system model for performance evaluation are introduced. Performance comparisons and design tradeoffs are addressed     

Voice over ATM using AAL2 and bit dropping: performance and calladmission control

Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) adaptation layer 2 (AAL2) has been designed for efficient transport of voice, fax, and voiceband data (VBD) traffic over an ATM virtual circuit. The protocol helps achieve low latency and high bandwidth efficiency while applying suitable compression methods on voice/VBD/fax calls and silence elimination on voice calls. We analyze the performance and capacity of an ATM multiplexer based on AAL2 adaptation. We assume that embedded adaptive differential pulse code modulation (ADPCM) is used to compress voice, and silence elimination is used to achieve statistical multiplexing gain. The embedded ADPCM coding scheme allows selective dropping of less significant bits of voice during congestion in the ATM/AAL2 multiplexer. We compare the call capacities of voice multiplexers with and without bit dropping (BD). The performance models and results presented are based on fairly general assumptions and can be used for traffic engineering and call admission control in land-line or wireless ATM systems for a variety of voice/voiceband compression algorithms. A generalized algorithm for call admission control is also described     

Performance Analysis of an ATM Multiplexer with Multiple QoS VBR Traffic

In this paper, we propose a new queuing model, MMDP/MMDP/1/K, for an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) multiplexer with multiple quality of service (QoS) variable bit rate (VBR) traffic in broad band-integrated services digital network (B-ISDN). We use the Markov Modulated Deterministic Process (MMDP) to approximate the actual arrival process and another MMDP for service process. Using queuing analysis, we derive a formula for the cell loss probability of the ATM multiplexer in terms of the limiting probabilities of a Markov chain. The cell loss probability can be used for connection admission control in ATM multiplexer and the calculation of equivalent bandwidth for arrival traffic. The major advantages of this approach are simplicity in analysis, accuracy of analysis by comparison of simulation, and numerical stability.     

周期性业务流通过ATM复用器的时延抖动分析

ＡＴＭ通信网中需要传送多种业务，其中有一类是具有连续比特流的业务，这种业务的发送信元到达时间是周期性的，本文分析了一种周期性信元流通过ＡＴＭ复用器的排队模型，得出信元流排队时延的概率分布，时延抖动的自相关函数的功率谱。     

Developing a cohesive traffic management strategy for ATM networks

The background and some of the rationale for the development of an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) traffic management framework to support the wide variety of services to be carried over the B-ISDN are discussed. The advantages of statistical, as opposed to deterministic, multiplexing are examined. Given the anticipated B-ISDN service characteristics, two classes of quality of service are defined based on cell delay and cell loss. The key ATM traffic management tools are reviewed. These tools are broadly classified as either preventive, limiting the total amount of traffic admitted to the network in order to virtually eliminate probability of cell-level congestion, or reactive, assisting the network and individual connections to avoid the onset of congestion and minimize its severity when it does occur. A strategy for the initial introduction and the long-term evolution of an ATM traffic management framework is described     

突发性业务环境下周期性信元流通过ATM复接器的时延抖动

在输入ATM网络的业务源中,周期性信元流是很重要的一种.本文精确地分析了一个有限缓存的ATM复接器,其输入业务源由一路周期性信元流、多路随机性贝努利(Bernoulli)信元流和突发性两状态马尔科夫调制贝努利(MMBP)信元流构成.得出了该路周期性信元流的排队时延分布、时延抖动的自相关函数和功率谱.揭示了突发性业务环境下周期性信元流通过ATM复接器的时延抖动行为.计算机模拟验证了分析结果的正确性.     

Architecture design for ATM statistical multiplexers

Both high-speed packet switches and statistical multiplexers are critical elements in the ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) network. Many switch architectures have been proposed and some of them have been built, but relatively fewer statistical multiplexer architectures have been investigated to date. It has been considered that multiplexers are a special kind of switches which can be implemented with similar approaches. The main function of a statistical multiplexer, however, is to concentrate traffic from a number of input ports to a comparatively smaller number of output ports; ‘switching’ in the sense that a cell must be delivered to a specific output port is often not required. This implies that the channel grouping design principle, in which more than one path is available for each virtual circuit connection, can be applied in the multiplexer. We show that this technique reduces the required buffer memory and increases the system performance significantly. The performances of three general approaches for implementing an ATM statistical multiplexer are studied through simulations with various bursty traffic assumptions. Based on the best performing approach (sharing output channels and buffers), we propose two architecture designs to implement a scalable statistical multiplexer that is modularly decomposed into many smaller multiplexers by using a novel grouping network.     

Management and control functions in ATM switching systems

As research has progressed, it has become clear that the main difficulties in ATM pertain to its operational details rather than the concept. And it seems likely that these control issues will be much more complicated and costly for ATM switches when compared with current telephone circuit switches. The asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is the target switching technique for the future public broadband integrated services digital network (B-ISDN). The purpose of this article is to examine the management and control functions in ATM switching systems implied by current industry standards and agreements on OAM and traffic control. Until now, ATM research in the areas of switch design and traffic control have progressed essentially independently. First, we briefly review the B-ISDN Protocol Reference Model and its representation of the different information flows in ATM. Network management and traffic control principles in ATM, and in particular OAM, are overviewed. With this information as background, we attempt to infer their implications on the functional blocks of an ATM switching system. An example switch architecture model with distributed management and control functions is outlined, and some design issues are discussed     

Approximating the heterogeneous fluid queue with a birth-deathfluid queue

Recent research has shown that fluid-flow queueing models accurately determine the burst level component of the ATM multiplexer process, and fluid models therefore constitute an efficient tool for the investigation of admission control in ATM networks. This article first gives a review of Markov-driven fluid queues with special attention given to the heterogeneous on/off model. Then an approximation procedure in which the original heterogeneous arrival process is replaced by a homogeneous birth-death arrival process is presented. The substitution is based on matching statistical parameters. Finally, the approach is evaluated by numerical examples     

Cell arrival modeling and related statistical multiplexer performance in ATM networks

A source is assumed to go through independently distributed ON and OFF periods. During an ON period, cells arrive spaced apart in time by a fixed interval. No cells arrive during an OFF period. The probability distribution of the ON and OFF periods are arbitrary. Traffic from a number of such sources is statistically multiplexed. The related statistical multiplexer performance is studied analytically as follows. A statistical multiplexer is modeled as a discrete-time single-server queueing system where the traffic from a new source (conforming to the cell arrival process described above) joins traffic that is already being statistically multiplexed. The aggregated arrival of cells from existing traffic is assumed to follow a two-state Markov modulated cell arrival process. Numerical examples that relate the performance at the statistical multiplexer to the parameters describing the traffic from the new source and the aggregated traffic are presented.This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NCR-9016348, and by the Pacific Bell External Technology Program.     

ATM网络中的业务控制

本文主要分析在宽带综合业务数字网（Ｂ－ＩＳＤＮ）中，以ＡＴＭ为传递方式的业务控制机制，主要从控制机制所应具备的特点及控制功能的划分角度进行讨论，并对控制机制中的业务监测和业务描述器两个主要问题进行了深入地分析。     

B-ISDN architecture and protocol

The authors discuss the architecture and protocol for broadband ISDN (B-ISDN) based on the CCITT standards. The discussion attempts to address the general concept of B-ISDN architecture and protocol and, whenever possible, present alternatives and the rationale for decisions in the selection of the protocol. B-ISDN is presented as a network evolution, and the impact of the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) on the network is described. The role of virtual channel and virtual path in B-ISDN is discussed. The B-ISDN protocol structure and lower layer functions comprising the physical, ATM, and adaptation layers are presented, and the tentative trends of signaling and traffic control for the B-ISDN are delineated     

Accurate approximation of cell loss probability for self-similartraffic in ATM networks

Recently, self-similar (or fractal) stochastic processes have been regarded as more accurate models of certain categories of traffic (e.g. LAN traffic) which will be transported in ATM networks. The authors propose a method for estimating the cell loss probability in an ATM multiplexer fed by a self-similar arrival process. The packet arrivals are generated by a fractional Brownian motion process and the service process is deterministic. The approach is based on theory for large deviations, and simulation tests show that it is more accurate than the existing approximation result     

Reminder on queueing theory for ATM networks

Queueing theory is a very useful means for performance prediction during the system design phase, for resource dimensioning and for planning of networks according to load andquality of service figures. In this paper, an overview is given about traffic models for ATM traffic sources, generic ATM traffic control models and performance evaluation methods.     

A new approximation for analyzing the multiplexing of bursty sources in ATM networks

This paper is concerned with the analysis of an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) multiplexer serving bursty applications such as voice, image, and high-speed data. The model used is a GI _i /D/1 discrete-time single-server queueing system: the arrival process is a superposition of several random processes, and the departure process is a deterministic with a FCFS discipline. The difficulty in solving such a queueing system depends on the model chosen for the individual traffic sources. For the case in which the cell arrival stream from the individual sources is modeled as a Bernouli process, an exact solution is possible. The problem with such a model is that it does not incorporate the effect of burst length, which has been shown through simulation experiments to have a significant effect on the performance. A more realistic model that takes into consideration the impact of the burst length is considered in this study. In particular, an alternating-state Markov process is chosen to model the individual arrival stream.The solution of a GI _i /D/1 queueing system with the arrival process being a superposition of several renewal processes is in general intractable. This paper obtained a new approximation we refer to as the three-parameters approximation (TPA). This approximation was based on the asymptotic properties of the aggregate traffic and the congestion estimates from the simulation experiments. The TPA solution was found to be dependent on three parameters: number of sources, overall traffic intensity at the queue, and multiplexing factor. The TPA is an improvement of a previous approximation developed in analyzing packet voice system.In addition, the study determined an optimal operating point for the ATM multiplexer and the ATM switch that takes into account the tradeoff between delay and throughput. In particular, an optimal operating point is specified by the traffic loading that maximizes the queueing power. This optimal operating point is used to contrast the performance of ATM with synchronous transfer mode (STM).