Measurement-based computation of equivalent bandwidth under performance constraints

Equivalent bandwidth (EqB) is defined as the minimum service rate to be provided to a traffic buffer to guarantee a certain degree of quality of service (QoS) in terms of objective parameters (packet loss, delay, jitter). EqB techniques are usually obtained analytically for homogeneous traffic trunks, with respect to a single QoS constraint. Modern network solutions often imply the aggregation of service classes with different QoS constraints, thus generating heterogeneous trunks from the point of view of both traffic sources and QoS requirements. This situation leads to the need to develop new EqB techniques so to match heterogeneity. This paper proposes a novel measurement-based EqB technique that computes the minimum required bandwidth to be allocated to a buffer, which conveys heterogeneous traffic (both concerning the traffic sources and the QoS requirements), without using closed-form expressions. The effectiveness of the algorithm is checked through simulations.