Simulation and performance evaluation of an ATM multiplexer using priority scheduling (for B-ISDN environment)

An ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) multiplexer with an input buffered architecture that uses a priority scheduling scheme is evaluated and compared with one without priority scheduling. The objective is to find some quantitative measurement that will help one better understand whether sufficiently more statistical gain can be realized with the added priority scheduling, i.e. by using delay priorities. A simulation model is developed to examine the delay performance and buffer occupancy statistics of an ATM multiplexer where the load generated from constant bit rate sources is held fixed, but the load generated by variable bit rate sources is varied. It is concluded that, if one envisions that the delay requirements of services supported in B-ISDN (broadband integrated services digital network) cover a range of 1 ms to a few tens of milliseconds per node, then priority scheduling can increase the utilization efficiency significantly.<<ETX>>