Analysis of a connection acceptance strategy for asynchronous transfer mode networks

A mathematical model is used to investigate the performance of a connection acceptance control (CAC) method in asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks. The model is based on the mathematical theory of large deviations, which is used to derive an approximation for the probability of cell loss when several traffic streams share a common resource. It is found that, over a wide range of parameters, the resource requirements of a given source can be summarized by a single parameter, referred to as its virtual bandwidth requirement. The virtual bandwidth requirement in ATM is analogous to the actual bandwidth requirements in circuit switched networks. It is shown that this correspondence allows some concepts from circuit switched technology to be applied to ATM networks and that the virtual bandwidth concept allows for a particularly simple CAC procedure