Chaotic throughput behaviour of the generic cell rate algorithm

It is well known that unexpected cell discard phenomena occur when applying the generic cell rate algorithm (GCRA), defined in ITU-T Recommendation I.371, to a constant bit rate cell flow of a deterministic bit rate connection that exceeds its agreed upon peak cell rate. By means of state transition diagrams, we analyse this unexpected throughput behaviour. Then we propose a slight modification of the GCRA to avoid this behaviour without imposing restrictions to the choice of the value of the cell delay variation tolerance parameter τ. Finally, we establish an analogy between telecom and solid state physics by observing a strong similarity between the particular GCRA throughput behaviour and chaotic transition diagrams in incommensurate crystal phases known as the Devil´s staircase