Traffic profiles in ATM networks

Abstract

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.