Observation-based multiplexing of VBR traffic in ATM networks

We describe “observation-based dynamic multiplexing”-a service scheme designed to enhance the statistical multiplexing of soft real-time VBR traffic in ATM networks. In this scheme, unlike conventional static model-based approaches, the bandwidth allocation of an ATM connection is regularly adjusted via source-initiated renegotiations based on its interval effective bandwidth determined on-line using novel bandwidth estimation and prediction heuristics. Results from trace-driven and model-driven simulations verify the effectiveness of observation-based dynamic multiplexing in the single-node case, especially for the support of MPEG and JPEG traffic. A reasonable level of cell loss performance can be achieved with significant improvement in network utilization in comparison to static bandwidth allocation based on single-source effective bandwidth