Characterization of a CBR connection over a channel with known bounded delay variation

The authors examine how to provide constant bit rate (CBR) service over a channel that can be characterized by a constant transmission delay plus a variable cell access delay. To compensate for the variability in the access delay, buffers are used at the source and the destination ends of the connection. Whenever buffers overflow or underflow the continuity of data flow over the connection breaks down. The minimum size of buffers required at the transmitter and the receiver to provide the connection is determined. The minimum source to sink delay achievable for different buffer initialization strategies and the corresponding buffer prefills are derived