Multi-rate traffic shaping and end-to-end performance guarantees in ATM networks

This paper proposes a traffic control scheme for integrated services ATM networks. The control strategy comprises of two components: a shaping mechanism at the network entry point and a frame based service discipline at the switches. The shaper enforces a short term peak rate, and a long term average rate. The multiplexing scheme at a switch allocates a guaranteed bandwidth to a connection. A connection may get more than the guaranteed amount, up to a connection specific maximum, if slack bandwidth is available. By imposing an upper bound on the allocated bandwidth, we secure a better handle on the delay jitter. Unlike most frame-based schemes, our scheme allows allocation of bandwidth at any arbitrary granularity. We suggest a simple admission control policy and derive deterministic bounds on end-to-end delay and jitter. An outline of a hardware realization of the scheme is also presented.