Multi-level threshold for priority buffer space management in ATM networks

This paper addresses a multi-level threshold strategy for buffer space management in ATM networks. We consider a buffer of finite capacity loaded with a number of on-off sources. Each source generates two types of cells, high priority cells and low priority cells. An arriving cell of low priority will be rejected if the buffer content at the cell arrival epoch exceeds a specified threshold. Instead of using a unique threshold level, we introduce a multi-level threshold strategy where each level is assigned to a maximum admissible cell arrival rate. Once the buffer content is over a threshold level and the cell arrival rate is found higher than the corresponding admissible rate, all incoming cells of low priority are discarded. This strategy, through properly adjusting the admissible arrival rate under a given threshold, can efficiently balance the overall load of the buffer. Numerical study illustrates that our multi-level threshold strategy is superior to the fixed threshold in buffer space management