Modeling issues on an ATM multiplexer within a bursty traffic environment

The loss performance is studied of an ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) multiplexer, whose input consists of the superposition of a multiplicity of homogeneous ON-OFF sources. The approach is based on the approximation of the actual input process by means of a suitably chosen two-state Markov modulated Poisson process (MMPP), as a simple and effective choice for the representation of the superimposed arrival streams. To accurately evaluate the cell loss performance, a matching procedure was developed which allows the derivation of a tight upper bound on the cell loss probability and the characterization of its asymptotic behavior as the buffer size increases. Moreover, this procedure yields insight into the multiplexer performance behavior, as the buffer size and the source parameters are varied, and clarifies the modeling limits implied by the choice of an approximating MMPP with only two states