End-to-end priority cell discarding analysis for ATM networks

The end-to-end cell discarding behavior of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) telecommunication networks is considered. Cell discarding is performed in priority fashion by a nested threshold mechanism. Extensions to a previous single-queue analysis that allow the calculations of end-to-end discarding probabilities for each priority are presented. A computer tool based on this analysis, called DANTE (for discarding analysis in a network telecommunications environment) is described. It facilitates the calculation of end-to-end discarding probabilities for very general network topologies. This tool is used to generate sample results, illustrating important issues in designing networks to meet cell loss objectives. The computational efficiency of the computer-aided analytical tool is compared with that of simulation techniques. The presence of bursty traffic (not modeled here) is likely to change the cell discarding results quantitatively, but not the design issues identified herein