A packet multiplexing scheme for slotted broadband networks

The authors examine the optimal choice of the slot size in terms of bandwidth usage in slotted broadband communication networks based on self-routing switching fabrics and statistical multiplexing schemes. This is a difficult problem, because of the uncertainty of the kinds and of mix of services to be supported by the network. To make this problem less critical, a packet multiplexing scheme is proposed, allowing several packets to be multiplexed in the same slot on a digital link. This scheme aims at avoiding bandwidth inefficiency when the information unit is smaller than the user capacity of a slot. This can take place for transactional data traffic and for packet voice traffic when the voice packet size underutilizes the slot capacity. The performance of a concentrator implementing this feature loaded by a data traffic is evaluated, providing upper bounds on the throughput and evaluating packet delay and buffer occupancy for different input levels