Analysis of a Local-Area Bus System with Controlled Access

The performance analysis of a local-area bus access scheme is presented, which is characterized by an alternating sequence of scheduling and data-transmission intervals. For different scheduling disciplines, viz., fixed and variable priorities, and "shortest-packet-first," we derive explicit results for the mean packet-transfer delay. Our results give insight into the question of fairness among the stations, and the potential for performance improvement by sophisticated scheduling.