Congestion avoidance with dynamic rate control in ATM networks

Conventional feedback schemes for available bit rate traffic in asynchronous transfer mode networks require many network parameter settings and use a fixed rate increment regardless of network load level. Determining and setting optimal parameters is a complex and difficult task. A fixed rate increment regardless of network load level could result in underutilization and severe congestion. Therefore conventional feedback schemes could result in poor performance as measured by throughput and queue length metrics. To improve network performance, a congestion avoidance scheme with dynamic rate control is proposed. The scheme provides fairness among contending sources, has high throughput and achieves shorter queue lengths without congestion. Also, the scheme converges quickly and reduces complex dependences of performance on combinations of individual parameters because it has few parameters. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.