Comparing protocol stacks using stochastic Petri nets

Designing a distributed system may force a choice between protocol stacks. This paper presents a method to employ stochastic Petri nets (SPNs) to compare stacks before any code gets written. The method is described by means of an example, choosing a transport protocol for the management of an access network. This is a heterogeneous network under the control of an operator between a customer and a broadband service of the operator. We would estimate the throughput and delay over a representative connection of the system using SPNs. In this, Erlang servers are employed to reduce the variance of delays and S-invariants to ensure model consistency