In this study, the problem of multiplexing VBR and ABR traffic is considered. VBR is uncontrollable, while ABR is provided the remaining service capacity in a controllable fashion. While in a given state, the VBR source is supposed to transmit at a fixed rate; the VBR time scale is then defined in terms of the time constant associated with the rate of change of the rate of the VBR source. ABR sources are assumed to be at some distance from the multiplexing network node; the network speed defines the network time scale which determines the distance (in network slots) between the ABR sources and the node. Finally, the minimum tolerable ABR rate (or the speed at which the ABR source can generate data units to be cellized) define the source time scale. While it is known that the increased network transmission speed (decreased network time scale) reduces the effectiveness of feed-back based adaptive rate control mechanisms due to the increased bandwidth propagation delay product, the positive impact of the VBR and ABR time scales has not been considered in the past. In this work a tractable analytical model is considered and the impact of the three time scales is investigated.

Date Published: 4 November 1996
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 2917, Broadband Access Systems, (4 November 1996); doi: 10.1117/12.257353

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2917:
Broadband Access Systems
Wai Sum Lai; Indra Widjaja; Dennis Karvelas; Sam T. Jewell; Curtis A. Siller Jr.; Indra Widjaja; Dennis Karvelas, Editor(s)