The Synthesized Traffic Generator; Objectives, Design and Capabilities

To validate the performance of an ATM based B-ISDN, extensive traffic measurements are necessary. The network performance measures obtained, e.g. cell loss, delay and jitter, will depend heavily on the load put on the system. Hence, the validity of the measurements is conditioned by the realism of the load put on the system during the measurement. This paper describes an ATM traffic generator, the STG (Synthesized Traffic Generator), which is designed to generate a traffic load as realistic as possible. The modelling framework on which the STG is based, is outlined. The source type models includes the behaviour of physical sources and the formation of ATM cell streams done by the terminal equipment. Load scenarios defines time varying traffic mixes towards various destinations. An STG can generate the multiplexed traffic stemming from up to 2048 independent sources. A nearly infinite number of independent and reproducible cell load sequences, with the same statistical properties, may be generated for each scenario. The work is as a part of the RACE project PARASOL (R 1083).