Congestion Control in Store and Forward Tandem Links

This paper discusses the problem of congestion in message-switched data communication networks. This condition occurs when more traffic enters a network than can reasonably be served. Two types of techniques employed to control congestion in already existing national networks are identified. A queueing model which can be used to analyze and compare these control schemes for a simple tandem link network is developed. Finally, analytic results are presented which describe the behavior of the simple network using the two control schemes, and which should be useful in the design of more general networks as well.