Time-optimal network queue control: the case of multiple congested nodes

The fundamental problem of time-optimal queue control in packet-switched networks is how to adjust source rates in time after network disturbances so that the network queue sizes converge to desired values in the minimum time, while ensuring that always at least one link remains fully utilized in every flow's path. This nonlinear feedback control problem had been solved in a previous paper for a single queue in a single congested node and the solution proven robust to queue size and bandwidth estimation errors. In this paper, we generalize that solution to a general network of flows crisscrossing queues, with link delays being arbitrary. The solution, derived for desired queue sizes of 0, turns out to be simple: two computationally simple conditions on the source rate control, viz. QRE-feasibility and maximally utilizing property are sufficient to ensure time-optimality, regardless of the packet scheduling scheme used inside the network nodes.

[1]  Lotfi Benmohamed,et al.  Feedback control of congestion in packet switching networks: the case of multiple congested nodes , 1997, Int. J. Commun. Syst..

[2]  Kai-Yeung Siu,et al.  Optimal feedback control for ABR service in ATM , 1997, Proceedings 1997 International Conference on Network Protocols.

[3]  Raj Jain.  Congestion Control and Traffic Management in ATM Networks: Recent Advances and a Survey , 1996, Comput. Networks ISDN Syst..

[4]  Raj Jain,et al.  Congestion control with explicit rate indication , 1995, Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Communications ICC '95.

[5]  Yiwei Thomas Hou,et al.  A generalized max-min rate allocation policy and its distributed implementation using the ABR flow control mechanism , 1998, Proceedings. IEEE INFOCOM '98, the Conference on Computer Communications. Seventeenth Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies. Gateway to the 21st Century (Cat. No.98.

[6]  Fabio M. Chiussi,et al.  Virtual queueing techniques for ABR service: improving ABR/VBR interaction , 1997, Proceedings of INFOCOM '97.

[7]  Mario Gerla,et al.  An ABR congestion control algorithm feeding back available bandwidth and queue level , 1998, 1998 IEEE ATM Workshop Proceedings. 'Meeting the Challenges of Deploying the Global Broadband Network Infrastructure' (Cat. No.98EX164).

[8]  Wei Kang Tsai,et al.  Time-optimal network queue control: the case of a single congested node , 2003, IEEE INFOCOM 2003. Twenty-second Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37428).

[9]  Karsten P. Ulland,et al.  Vii. References , 2022 .

[10]  Raj Jain,et al.  The ERICA switch algorithm for ABR traffic management in ATM networks , 1998, TNET.

[11]  Wei Kang Tsai,et al.  Spatio-temporal max-min fair rate allocation , 2000, 2000 IEEE International Conference on Communications. ICC 2000. Global Convergence Through Communications. Conference Record.