Buffering and Packet Loss in the DQDB to ATM Interworking Unit

This paper describes methods for reducing the connectionless packet loss rate in the Distributed Queue Dual Bus (DQDB) to Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Interworking Unit (IWU). Results from simulation studies are presented to show the relationship between the buffering available in the IWU and the reduction in cell and packet loss probabilities. Further performance studies compare the performance of the Lost Packet Screening scheme, the Pushout Buffering scheme and the Datagram Acceptance Control scheme for further reducing the packet loss rate. It is shown that the packet loss rate can be reduced by one order of magnitude. The implementational complexity of the three approaches is also discussed.