Analytical and numerical results for feedback based flow control of B-ISDN/ATM networks with significant propagation delays

We consider a system comprising of a single bottleneck node fed by multiple Markov modulated fluid sources each of which is policed by a corresponding access regulator that marks all excess traffic as well as drops some of the excess traffic. The amount of excess traffic released is varied dynamically based on delayed feedback from the bottleneck. We present analytical and numerical results for this model that allow us to study the role of delayed feedback vis-a-vis certain time constants and traffic parameters associated with the system. In particular we show that even for a large propagation delay such as that required for the length of the continental USA the feedback policy is more effective, though the relative improvement of the feedback policy decreases as the delay increases. We also find that the feedback policy is most effective when the sources are moderately bursty