Comparing FCFS & EDF scheduling algorithms for real-time packet switching networks

Nowadays, most of the computerized network applications are depending on the ability of the servicing packet switching network to integrate different types of traffic from two main categories, real-time and best-effort classes, and provide different QoS guarantees based on the traffic type. Different methods were applied to provide such guarantees, one of the most efficient method used in packet switching networks is the use of the proper scheduling algorithms. In this paper we have studied two main schedulers, The First-Come-First-Served (FCFS) scheduler which is commonly used in best-effort networks where no QoS guarantees are required, and the Earliest Deadline First (EDF) scheduler which is mostly used to provide different QoS requirements for real-time traffic while continuing to provide a service for best effort data traffic. Three main QoS guarantees had been studied (miss ratio, delay, and average size of the buffer) by using these two scheduler on a set of data packets from two main categories (real-time and best-effort). The study shows the efficiency of using the EDF scheduler in a hybrid network to provide such QoS guarantees among the FCFS scheduler which is more efficient for serving best-effort data traffic.