An analysis approach to multilevel networking

An alternative to the i.i.d. (independent and identically distributed) characterization of the packet (output) processes generated by the components of a communication network is presented. The proposed model is exact. The output process is described as a generalized Bernoulli process whose intensity depends on the state of an underlying Markov chain describing the operation of the component. The cardinality of the state space of this Markov chain may be almost arbitrarily large. To provide for a numerically tractable solution in the latter case, the exact model is appropriately modified. For this purpose, a meaningful approximate model of the output process (based on the dominant states of the underlying Markov chain) is introduced. The approximate model is described by introducing the concept of the α%-exact model. An analysis of a specific multilevel packet communication network illustrates the general approach