Modeling and simulation applied to link dimensioning of stream IP traffic with incremental validation

Modern networks for converged services (voice, video and data) require appropriate planning and dimensioning. In this paper, we present a methodology for dimensioning the link capacity and packet delay in stream, IP multi-service networks with QoS requirements, in which discrete-event simulation is essential. The model may be used in the lack of enough reliable real-world data, since it is initially validated by an analytical model and then augmented step by step. The approach can be made more reliable if measured values are used. We show that the incremental approach allows a significant reduction in simulation time without significant loss of accuracy, by exploiting the sample variance reduction due to the large difference in the time scale between events occurring in the application (service layer) and in the packet layer. We demonstrated the applicability of this method with typical multi-service network scenarios.