On the effective traffic control of ABR services in ATM networks

Although ATM networks support various traffic requirements, but many data applications are unable to precisely specify traffic parameters such as bit rate. These applications generally require a dynamic share of the available bandwidth among all active connections, they are called available-bit-rate (ABR) service. Due to bursty and unpredictable pattern of an ABR data stream, its traffic control is more challenging than other services. In this paper, we present an improved ABR traffic control approach, called Offset Proportional Rate Control Algorithm (OPRCA). The proposed approach achieves high link utilization, low delay and weighted fair sharing among contenting sources according to the predefined OPR. The implementation is much simpler than that of existing schemes. OPRCA combines an end-to-end rate control with link-by-link feedback control, and employs a buffering scheme that avoids Head-of-Line (HOL) blocking. It can dynamically regulate the transmission rate of source traffic and maintain the real fairness among all active connections. Simulation results have shown the effectiveness of OPRCA in several performance aspects.