DiffServ-aware Multi Protocol Label Switching based quality of service in Next Generation Networks

Next Generation Networks (NGN) are the future of communication which will provide each and every service over the same network. The network will only act as a bit highway or a packet highway, forwarding packets of each and every kind over the internet protocol or IP. NGN already on the implementation phase is not a new network but focuses on the replacement of public switched telephone networks (PSTN) first up and later on cable TV networks as we see IPTV services already beginning to be deployed. Among the many issues faced by NGN is the quality of service (QoS) issue as would be with any IP based network; which is measured in terms of network latency, throughput, packet delay variation, packet loss etc. Several techniques try to solve this issue in a best effort environment. Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) was found to be the technology which seems to solve the problem better than others primarily due to its traffic engineering capabilities. However faced by the limitation of non-differentiation of services a DiffServ support for MPLS was only natural as there are certain resemblances between the two the most important being that traffic classification in case of both DiffServ and MPLS takes place at the ingress of their respective domains. Using this combination we get more control in providing the quality of service where priorities are to be given to some applications over the others. This has been proved by the simulation results given towards the end of this paper.