Congestion control of packet-switched networks with three types of input buffer limits

Congestion in a store-and-forward data communications network manifests itself by a rapid degradation of network throughput and a fast increase in the average transit delay. A study of a congestion control mechanism in a packet-switched data network is presented. Buffer limits are placed on the input, transit and exit packets in each switching node. By a judicious choice of the buffer limits, it is shown that the network throughput can be maintained at a constant level, while the average transit delay remains within acceptable bounds for offered loads beyond the congestion point.