Spatio-temporal max-min fair rate allocation

This paper considers STMM, a spatio-temporal max-min fair rate allocation for virtual circuits (VCs) in networks with time-varying link capacities. This is a direct generalization of conventional steady-state max-min fair rate allocation. In an STMM allocation, all links are fully utilized while maintaining feasibility and fairness among VCs at all times. It is shown that if and only if the propagation delay differences between VCs as seen at different switches is consistent, the STMM problem gets decoupled into a time-sequence of independent steady-state max-min fair allocation problems. A generic protocol to achieve STMM allocation in such networks is presented. Practical temporal flow control protocols which take link delays into account, can be then designed as approximations of this ideal protocol.