Per user fairness in Flow-Aware Networks

A new fairness concept for Flow-Aware Networks (FAN) is presented and analyzed in the paper. In contrast to basic FAN, where elastic flows are treated similarly, it assumes fair access to the resources for each user independently of how many flows it generates. A new method for estimating the values of the fair rate, which is the key congestion control parameter in FAN is also provided. The new solution allows for reducing the oscillations of the periodically measured values which influences more stable transmission in the network. The new method allows for describing the traffic in a more realistic way, simultaneously simplifying its implementation in the FAN routers. Finally, the results of the simulation analysis of FAN with the new fairness algorithm and the Remove and Accept Most Active Flows (RAMAF) congestion control mechanism are presented for two versions of the TCP protocol: NewReno and NewJersey.