Performance and robustness testing of explicit-rate ABR flow control schemes

This paper compares and evaluates three ABR flow control strategies (ERICA, ERICA+, and DEBRA) for ATM networks, using simulation. A set of benchmark network scenarios is used to illustrate the properties of each algorithm, such as efficiency, fairness, responsiveness, and scalability, as well as robustness in the presence of uncooperative sources. The simulation results show that ERICA+ and DEBRA perform similarly on most scenarios, and slightly better than ERICA, while DEBRA is more robust than ERICA and ERICA+. Overall, the study shows that DEBRA, a new explicit-rate flow control strategy, shows good potential for ABR traffic control in ATM networks