Adaptive bandwidth assignment in a TDM network with hybrid frames

A multiservice drop/insert TDM (time division multiplexing) network in which hybrid frames are used to carry two basic traffic types (circuit-switched isochronous and packet-switched asynchronous) generated by several users is considered. Each user is assigned a portion of the total available bandwidth, in terms of slots/frame, which is dynamically allocated between the two traffic types at the user premises, by means of a local randomized decision rule. The user´s bandwidth shares (capacities) are allocated by a centralized agent, whose goal is to minimize a global cost function that accounts for packet delays and call blocking of the entire process over an infinite time horizon (i.e., in the stochastic steady state). In order to track possible slow variations of the traffic generation parameters, periodic interventions of the central agent are effected. This gives rise to a parametric optimization problem with time-varying constraints, whose specific characterization is discussed