Performance analysis of gateways with buffer constraints

The following configurations of interconnected networks are studied: (i) the gateways and the channels of local area networks have no buffer capacity constraints; (ii) only gateways have buffer capacity constraints; (iii) only the channels of local area networks have buffer capacity constraints; and (iv) both the gateways and the channels of the local area networks have buffer capacity constraints. An approximation method that makes it possible to compute the throughput for the above network configurations is introduced. Examples are given to demonstrate the effects of gateway buffer capacity on the performance of the network. Approximate results are validated by simulation