On fault recovery priority in ATM networks

In this paper we propose a priority scheme for reconnection of virtual circuits (VCs) in ATM networks that have been disrupted by a failure. ATM networks offer several service categories each designed to handle applications with specific traffic characteristics. A failure typically results in a large number of disrupted connections in each category, all of which must be restored simultaneously. A critical issue in the restoration is the order in which the service categories are processed, and the order of processing the connections and routing within each category. The proposed priority scheme aims at minimizing the impact of a failure on the network.